The visual performance of precision lethality on social media: How precision strikes became visual performances—and why that matters for law, legitimacy, and civilian harm.
The visual performance of precision lethality on social media: How precision strikes became visual performances—and why that matters for law, legitimacy, and civilian harm.
Precision warfare today is defined not only by what happens during a strike, but by how that act is seen, framed, and circulated. Over the past two decades, the United States has developed a visual language—gun-camera footage, Situation Room photographs, and eyewitness social media posts—to present targeted killing as restrained, lawful, and morally controlled, turning attacks into political performances as well as military actions. These representations are not ancillary but constitutive: They shape public expectations about how war should be fought, constrain political and military decision-making, and legitimize further uses of force. While this “precision cycle” has at times advanced civilian harm mitigation, it also risks hollowing precision into performance—allowing visual credibility to stand in for legal, strategic, and ethical judgment.
precision, warfare, United States, targeted killing, social media, law, legitimacy, propaganda
Fuller, Christopher
c382672a-11a3-4d2a-8aa4-8ba345c64cc2
13 February 2026
Fuller, Christopher
c382672a-11a3-4d2a-8aa4-8ba345c64cc2
Christopher Fuller (Author)
(2026)
The visual performance of precision lethality on social media: How precision strikes became visual performances—and why that matters for law, legitimacy, and civilian harm.
Lawfare
Abstract
Precision warfare today is defined not only by what happens during a strike, but by how that act is seen, framed, and circulated. Over the past two decades, the United States has developed a visual language—gun-camera footage, Situation Room photographs, and eyewitness social media posts—to present targeted killing as restrained, lawful, and morally controlled, turning attacks into political performances as well as military actions. These representations are not ancillary but constitutive: They shape public expectations about how war should be fought, constrain political and military decision-making, and legitimize further uses of force. While this “precision cycle” has at times advanced civilian harm mitigation, it also risks hollowing precision into performance—allowing visual credibility to stand in for legal, strategic, and ethical judgment.
Text
The Visual Performance of Precision Lethality on Social Media_final
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Available under License Other.
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Published date: 13 February 2026
Keywords:
precision, warfare, United States, targeted killing, social media, law, legitimacy, propaganda
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Local EPrints ID: 510138
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/510138
PURE UUID: f9b90605-077d-43db-aa92-9d777cdad8d3
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Date deposited: 18 Mar 2026 17:39
Last modified: 18 Mar 2026 17:39
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