Performative activism
Etymology
From "performative" (here in the everyday sense of “done for show,” loosely echoing J.L. Austin’s technical term for language that enacts) plus "activism." The compound rose to prominence in social-media discourse of the 2010s, especially around viral solidarity campaigns.
noun phrase · /per-FOR-muh-tiv AK-tiv-iz-uhm/
Public displays of support for a cause done mainly to enhance one’s own image rather than to produce real change.
What it names
Activism whose true payoff is reputational — being seen to care — distinguishing gesture from actual commitment.
Example
Posting a black square and then doing nothing else struck many as performative activism.
Related idea
Closely tied to virtue signalling, but with a difference of emphasis: virtue signalling is any display broadcasting one’s good values, while performative activism specifically dresses that display as engagement with a cause it does little to advance.