The Algorithm as a Hidden Addressee of Speech Acts: pragmatic communicative strategies in Polish-language social media discourse

Abstract

The article proposes a pragmatic account of how social media platform algorithms operate as functional, hidden addressee of speech act. It begins with a review of research on algorithmic content moderation, users’ algorithmic awareness, the concept of the algorithmic addressee, and the phenomenon of algospeak. The first part discusses key findings concerning content moderation and strategies used to increase the visibility of online content. The second part develops the central argument that, while algorithms are not participants in communication in any psychological or intentional sense, they nevertheless constitute pragmatically relevant recipient entities whose anticipated responses shape the form of users’ utterances. An analysis of examples of algospeak demonstrates that these linguistic practices are not merely manifestations of linguistic creativity but also communicative strategies directed simultaneously at human users and algorithms. The article concludes by arguing for a reconsideration of classical pragmatic categories in the study of platform-mediated communication.