Copypasta

Copypasta is a piece of text — ranging from a few sentences to several paragraphs — that's copied and pasted across internet forums, comment sections, and social media by multiple users. The name is a portmanteau of "copy" and "paste." Copypastas are used for humor, trolling, coordinated messaging, and occasionally to spread actual information virally. The Navy Seal Copypasta, the Bee Movie script dropped into conversations, and various political talking points are all copypastas of different kinds.

What it means

Copypasta serves different purposes depending on context. Humorous copypasta is internet joke culture: recognizable, self-referential, and enjoyed by those who know the reference. Troll copypasta is designed to derail or annoy: posting the same irrelevant text repeatedly to flood a conversation. Coordinated message copypasta — essentially organized talking points deployed simultaneously across multiple accounts — shades into astroturfing and coordinated inauthentic behavior when done by bots or organized groups.

The detection of coordinated copypasta is one of the few content moderation areas where automated tools genuinely work: identical or near-identical text posted at high volume is a reliable signal of inauthentic coordination.

How it works on Gab

Copypasta circulates freely on Gab as both humor and commentary. The distinction Gab draws is between organic user expression (even if repetitive) and coordinated inauthentic behavior — bots or organized campaigns using copypasta to manipulate conversations.

Related terms

Copypasta is textual where a meme is visual. Astroturfing uses coordinated copypasta for political manipulation. Bot accounts often distribute copypasta at scale.