Language Inflation: A Research on the Abuse of “Meme Culture” on Short Video Platforms

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_115How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Language Inflation; Meme Culture; Short Video Platforms

Abstract

By the end of 2025, China’s short video users reached 1.074 billion. The rapid spread of digital subcultures has fundamentally changed language norms, triggering a phenomenon of language inflation. This study explores the formation and abuse of memes on short video platforms, as well as the multi-layered impacts of this abuse on individuals, social interactions, and the language ecosystem, and analyzes potential governance strategies from various stakeholders. Using a qualitative approach combining content analysis and in-depth interviews, the study finds three language inflation characteristics of memes and that while meme culture provides media massage and emotional resonance for teenagers, its mechanical repetition leads to expressive aphasia, semantic value devaluation, and the erosion of mainstream values. The study concludes that mitigating the negative impacts of language inflation requires a collaborative governance model, including platform algorithm optimization, improved government regulation, and targeted ideological and theoretical education to enhance public media literacy.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Wenbo Li
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/07
TI  - Language Inflation: A Research on the Abuse of “Meme Culture” on Short Video Platforms
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 12th International Conference on Digital Humanities and Frontiers in Social Sciences (DHFSS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1074
EP  - 1085
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_115
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_115
ID  - Li2026
ER  -