Poe’s Law: What Exactly Does the Internet Mean by It?

You're browsing the Internet, and you've read something offensive but there is a smiley that comes with the statement, indicating that it's a joke. The author might claim that you're simply being hypersensitive.

That, my friend, is Poe's law. And it's something that you've perhaps already encountered if you are a frequent user of social media. Is it a tactic? Yes, it might be.

What exactly is Poe's law?

According to KnowYourMeme website, Poe's Law is an Internet axiom that states that it is difficult to distinguish extremism from the satire of extremism on the Internet unless the author clearly indicates his/her intent.

WIRED explained that Poe's law is when someone is trying to slip out of their rhetorical bind by claiming that their offending statement had been a joke and that you're just being hypersensitive.

The notion of Poe's law is most frequently observed with highly polarized discussion topics, such as gender equality, religious or political fundamentalism, and other social justice-related issues.

The Origin of Poe's Law

According to KnowYourMeme, the earliest notion of such a grey area was first made in 1983 by Jerry Schwarz. He posted a message on Usenet expressing his concerns about confusion during online interactions and how it may affect Usenet.

Schwarz offered several suggestions for addressing these problems with online communication: avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.

A sideways smile has become widely accepted on the net to indicate that "I'm only kidding." Thus, if you submit a satiric item without the sideways smile symbol, no matter how obvious the satire is to you, people will take it seriously.

But the first person to codify Poe's law as a digital phenomenon is Nathan Poe in a Christian forum discussion about possible flaws in the theory of evolution by natural selection in 2005.

According to WIRED, during a discussion about perceived flaws in the theory of evolution, people began lamenting how difficult it was to divine if participants were for real.

Poe then posted this axiom: "POE'S LAW: Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is utterly impossible to parody a Creationist in such a way that someone won't mistake for the genuine article."

Ever since the concept of Poe's law has grown far from its creationist origins.

"It's a big part of the culture of collective spaces like 4chan or Reddit, where people don't know each other interpersonally and you can't gauge intention," Ryan Milner, author of The World Made Meme said.

What Happened to Poe's Law as the Internet Changed Through the Years?

The internet has changed in various ways since 2005. Therefore, Poe's Law applies to more and more internet interactions.

"When social networks used to be bounded by interests, the joke teller could expect that their audience was in on the joke," said Whitney Phillips, author of This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship Between Online Trolling and Internet Culture, as cited by WIRED.

Phillips added that now a single retweet could cause spontaneous global amplification, meaning a lot of people who don't have context for your in-joke could be sharing it.

It is impossible to tell who is joking on the internet. However, Poe's Law isn't only useful as a defense against offensive reactions. It's also a diagnosis of exactly how the troll mentality has weakened internet culture, according to WIRED. If nobody knows what anyone means, then every denial is feasible.

With Poe's Law serving as an escape for more and more rascals, like so many other memes, it has effectively been weaponized.