Digital Media for Social Justice Amidst Artificial Intelligence: Towards Equalizing Marginalized Media Access and...

This paper examines the relationship between intersectional marginalization, digital media, and anti-oppressive resistance. Grounded in Merriam's case study framework, the study prioritizes views of participants of their everyday media engagements, with emphasis on resulting community capacity to resist systemic social injustices. Utilizing purposive sampling, a cohort of 14 participants identifying with multiple intersecting social statuses of marginalization - including racialized identities, gender diversity, Indigenous ancestry, socioeconomic marginalization, and lived trauma - participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed six key themes: first, daily experiences of marginalization may cause media selection to prioritize immediate psychological respite and emotional regulation. Participants further considered the flexible utility of story-based AI companions for continuous, peer-level support during times of heightened stress. Second, online social justice discourse is discussed by participants as often punitive as opposed to collaborative. Participants report how existing digital norms on social media may potentially silence authentic, non-conforming perspectives, even when rooted in a participant's own lived experience of structural marginalization.In relation, participants report how diversity and inclusion themes may be commercialized by industrial media for visibility and market optimization, with grassroots creators leveraging AI-driven video-creation tools to provide deeply analytical and derivative commentary. Lastly, a unique case of media featuring social work emerged in participant responses, highlighting how online discourse on social justice ideologies can inadvertently draw attention away from on-the-ground realities aligned with traditional social work practice. Implications for AI-deployment in social work and resistance in a landscape of technology and media conclude the study.