Hoax in Modern Politics: The Meaning of Hoax in Indonesian Politics and Democracy

The propagation of hoaxes on social media has contributed to political tension in many countries. The 2016 US presidential election provides evidence of how fake news can generate more social media engagement than real news. In multicultural Indonesia, the history of anti-communist, anti-Christian,...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pratiwi Utami
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universitas Gadjah Mada 2019-01-01
Series:JSP: Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik
Subjects:
Online Access:https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/jsp/article/view/34614
_version_ 1819035012951965696
author Pratiwi Utami
author_facet Pratiwi Utami
author_sort Pratiwi Utami
collection DOAJ
description The propagation of hoaxes on social media has contributed to political tension in many countries. The 2016 US presidential election provides evidence of how fake news can generate more social media engagement than real news. In multicultural Indonesia, the history of anti-communist, anti-Christian, and anti-Chinese pogroms increases the level of sensitivity and sentiment, especially when dealing with racial issues. This paper explores the role of hoaxes in Indonesia’s contemporary politics. It investigates the characteristics of hoax information circulated on social media during the 2017 Jakarta election using a memetic practice approach. This study perceives hoaxes as having acted like memes in terms of the ways in which they dismantle existing source material to tap into ideas or sentiments people connect with. Hoaxes as memes alter original items into new forms of artifacts, with new messages that resonate with existing beliefs in society. Consequently, hoaxes can create a culture based on a shared belief among the community and, in the era of increasing polarization, a hoax has the potential to be a means of political partisanship. However, with the tendency to overpower the truth and lead people away from believing facts, hoaxes can be a threat to participatory democracy.
first_indexed 2024-12-21T07:42:52Z
format Article
id doaj.art-50366393c985478897938bd5e4b32b6f
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1410-4946
2502-7883
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-21T07:42:52Z
publishDate 2019-01-01
publisher Universitas Gadjah Mada
record_format Article
series JSP: Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik
spelling doaj.art-50366393c985478897938bd5e4b32b6f2022-12-21T19:11:16ZengUniversitas Gadjah MadaJSP: Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik1410-49462502-78832019-01-01222859710.22146/jsp.3461423190Hoax in Modern Politics: The Meaning of Hoax in Indonesian Politics and DemocracyPratiwi Utami0Monash UniversityThe propagation of hoaxes on social media has contributed to political tension in many countries. The 2016 US presidential election provides evidence of how fake news can generate more social media engagement than real news. In multicultural Indonesia, the history of anti-communist, anti-Christian, and anti-Chinese pogroms increases the level of sensitivity and sentiment, especially when dealing with racial issues. This paper explores the role of hoaxes in Indonesia’s contemporary politics. It investigates the characteristics of hoax information circulated on social media during the 2017 Jakarta election using a memetic practice approach. This study perceives hoaxes as having acted like memes in terms of the ways in which they dismantle existing source material to tap into ideas or sentiments people connect with. Hoaxes as memes alter original items into new forms of artifacts, with new messages that resonate with existing beliefs in society. Consequently, hoaxes can create a culture based on a shared belief among the community and, in the era of increasing polarization, a hoax has the potential to be a means of political partisanship. However, with the tendency to overpower the truth and lead people away from believing facts, hoaxes can be a threat to participatory democracy.https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/jsp/article/view/34614hoaxmemesmemetic practicepoliticspolitical communication.
spellingShingle Pratiwi Utami
Hoax in Modern Politics: The Meaning of Hoax in Indonesian Politics and Democracy
JSP: Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik
hoax
memes
memetic practice
politics
political communication.
title Hoax in Modern Politics: The Meaning of Hoax in Indonesian Politics and Democracy
title_full Hoax in Modern Politics: The Meaning of Hoax in Indonesian Politics and Democracy
title_fullStr Hoax in Modern Politics: The Meaning of Hoax in Indonesian Politics and Democracy
title_full_unstemmed Hoax in Modern Politics: The Meaning of Hoax in Indonesian Politics and Democracy
title_short Hoax in Modern Politics: The Meaning of Hoax in Indonesian Politics and Democracy
title_sort hoax in modern politics the meaning of hoax in indonesian politics and democracy
topic hoax
memes
memetic practice
politics
political communication.
url https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/jsp/article/view/34614
work_keys_str_mv AT pratiwiutami hoaxinmodernpoliticsthemeaningofhoaxinindonesianpoliticsanddemocracy