This chapter summarizes the key conclusions of the book, which examines how the Internet has transformed human interaction by fostering virtual communities and reshaping knowledge, authority, and legitimacy. Through an analysis of discursive practices in digital spaces, the book reveals how democratic participation online challenges traditional institutions and disrupts established knowledge hierarchies. Central to this inquiry is the tension between increased access to information and the erosion of institutional trust, exemplified by case studies such as the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE) and the COVID-19 ‘infodemic.’ The book further investigates misinformation, political communication through memes, and the rise of online activism, showing how digital communities shape discourse and build connective identities. Critical issues such as online human rights, free speech, and legal regulation are explored, with a particular focus on the metaverse and digital vigilantism. By addressing these complex dynamics, the book highlights the evolving challenges and opportunities of online discourse and stresses the importance of ongoing research as society adapts to the rapidly changing digital landscape, including innovations in Generative AI.

Beyoncé’s and The Chicks’ performance at the 2016 Country Music Awards Show sparked unprecedented backlash on digital media spaces. For some viewers, the performance challenged the perceived boundaries of country music as fundamentally wrapped up in white identity. Consequently, white fans’ digital dialogue surrounding the performance attempted to maintain country music’s whiteness through surveillant rhetorical tactics. In this chapter, Hutten develops a theory of genre surveillance to describe how the boundaries of country music are policed not only by significant country music institutions but by a faction of country music fans. Hutten situates Beyoncé’s and The Chicks’ performance, and the digital reactions to it, within the history and politics of country music’s sonic color line. Additionally, Hutten mobilizes Browne’s (2015) theory of dark sousveillance to demonstrate how the performance functions as an act of musical resistance.