What is the role of online humor in difficult times? Does humor help us deal with difficult politics, or does it exacerbate social divides? Can humor help marginalized communities or further entrench power? Does humor help to propagate fake news or amplify important truths? Over the past year, we’ve seen the intersection of meme culture, GIFs, hashtags, selfies, puns and other aspects of online humor being dissected and discussed everywhere from the halls of government to international news. In this panel, we bring together online humorists, meme creators, writers, and researchers to discuss online humor's role in society, news, politics, culture, activism, and online life.

Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.