INFLUENCE OF WHAT AND/OR WHOM?

THE CASE OF VIRGÍNIA FONSECA AND THE PARATOPIA OF DIGITAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

Digital media are not merely spaces for the circulation of data, information, and images; they also function as enunciative devices through which subjects (de)construct meanings, (de)identities, and relationships by means of multimodal language. In this context, the present article aims to discuss how social media platforms—more specifically, Instagram—operate as a “borderline frontier” within the discursive universe, enabling digital subject-authors to (re)organize their forms of belonging and (re)structure their positions. As an object of investigation, we analyze selected posts from this platform considering the testimony given by the influencer Virgínia Fonseca during the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) on "Bets," which addressed online sports betting and illicit enrichment. The theoretical and methodological framework is grounded in French Discourse Analysis, particularly drawing on the concepts of paratopia, enunciative scenes, and ethos as developed by Dominique Maingueneau (2006, 2008, 2010, 2015). The aim is to examine how the various enunciative spaces occupied by the digital influencer—conceived here as a digital subject-author—can promote displacements of socially and historically crystallized meanings and interfere with the discursive construction of what it means to exert influence within these enunciative environments.