Wikipedia:Notability (memes)

An Internet meme (also called an Internet phenomenon) is any kind of media that gains popularity through the Internet. There is currently no consensus on what constitutes a notable internet meme. Because Wikipedia is not a democracy, this proposed policy aims to set out concrete guidelines for dealing with internet memes, so that all internet meme articles are treated equally if/when they are nominated for deletion.

Guidelines for notability

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If the meme in question fulfills any one of these requirements, it can be deemed notable:

  1. The meme has been the subject of multiple non-trivial published works whose source is independent of the meme itself, and which qualifies as a reliable source.

People associated with memes

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  • If a person is only notable for their meme, then any information related to them should be at that meme's page. If that person is notable under WP:BIO, they can also have their own article.

Special considerations

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  • Google doesn't establish notability: A Google test cannot be used to establish that a meme is notable because it is theoretically possible that issues such as Google bombing have inflated the count. However, Google can show non-notability for Internet memes. A very small Google count can show that a meme is non-notable.

See also

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  • WP:V - Don't forget to consider verifiability.
  • WP:WEB
  • WP:MUSIC - If a band's notability relies on their meme, make sure to check out if they're notable under the music notability standards.
  • WP:BIO - This policy applies only to memes. See the guideline on notability for people at this link.