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.”