Digitallighting

A contemporary form of gaslighting conducted through digital platforms—social media, messaging apps, forums—where one or more participants systematically discredit, confuse, and undermine another’s perception of reality. Digitallighting uses techniques like selective screenshotting, public mockery, coordinated downvoting, and the creation of alternate “evidence” to make the target doubt their own memory, judgment, or sanity. Unlike classical gaslighting (typically intimate and private), digitallighting is often public, involving multiple actors, and can escalate rapidly across platforms.

Example: “They edited her comments out of context, posted them to a hate group, then mocked her for ‘paranoia’ when she tried to correct the record—digitallighting, rewriting reality through coordinated digital abuse.”

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 25, 2026

Proxy Digitallighting

A form of digitallighting where the gaslighting is performed not directly by the original antagonist but by proxies—friends, followers, or automated bots—who amplify the disinformation, harassment, and reality‑distortion. The original instigator maintains plausible deniability (“I didn’t say that; my followers just care”), while the proxy network executes the attack. Proxy digitallighting makes it difficult for targets to identify their abuser and impossible to escape the coordinated assault.

Example: “He never directly harassed her, but his 5,000 followers suddenly flooded her mentions with doctored screenshots—proxy digitallighting, using a mob to do the dirty work.”

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 25, 2026