This talk addresses the issue of image production and image ownership at the time of algorithmic prediction and peer surveillance. It draws from my ethnography on the Arab uprisings and on the visual media produced by global protest movements. The protesters film 24/7 in order to produce a counter-narrative and denounce the violence and violations of human rights (‘right’). They upload evidentiary footage on the web and share (‘click’) it in order to raise awareness and mobilize global publics to their cause. However, ownership of this visual media lies firmly in the hands of Silicon Valley social networking platforms who have the legal right to rule over the fate of the images and decide whether they can stay online or be deleted (‘remove’) as non-compliant with their guidelines and terms of service. Reflecting on the actions of ‘right, click, remove’ and on the act of producing, sharing and deleting that they imply, this talk explores the contradictions and challenges of contemporary visual economies in the networked era.

Donatella Della Ratta is Assistant Professor of Media and Communications at John Cabot University and the author of Shooting a Revolution: Visual Media and Warfare in Syria (Pluto, 2018). She has a background in media studies with a specialization in Arabic-speaking media. From 2007 until 2011 she lived in Damascus and carried out an extensive media ethnography of Syrian TV series which became the topic of her PhD thesis. Prof. Della Ratta is also a former post-doctoral fellow at the Annemberg School of of Communications, University of Penssylvania, and an affilate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. She is the author of three Italian monographs on Arab media. She received her PhD from the University of Copenhagen in 2013.