Cancelamento digital como prática de punição social

Abstract

This paper analyzes digital cancellation as a social and symbolic practice in the context of digital networks, highlighting its anthropological, political, and subjective implications. Based on the observation of emblematic cases, such as the suicide of celebrities in South Korea, the symbolic lynching of public figures in Brazil, and the episodes involving Kim Sae-ron and Kim Soo-hyun, the study seeks to reveal how cancellation operates as a form of moral punishment, often disproportionate, selective, and based on an aesthetics of performance and public image. Articulating authors from the human sciences, the paper discusses the psychological and social effects of cancellation, as well as its implications for deliberative democracy. The analysis points out that cancellation, although it can function as an instrument of resistance and symbolic accountability, often reproduces structural inequalities and practices of exclusion. The research thus proposes a critical reading of the phenomenon, highlighting the need for more ethical, inclusive digital spaces oriented towards listening and collective transformation.