Qualitative and mixed-methods studies examining how users negotiate authenticity, care, and legitimacy through performative practices shaped by platform affordances and demands — including micro-influencers’ branding of ethical care, Reddit users’ bot-like imitative posting, and TikTok influencers’ normalized incivility — arguing that these practices function as culturally negotiated, platform-specific survival or participatory strategies rather than fixed properties of sincerity or malice.