Revealing Hate Comments on Indonesian Political Issues on Instagram: A Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates hate comments on Indonesian political issues employed by Indonesian Instagram users. The data were collected over three months (October – December) in 2022 and were analyzed using NVivo software (data classification, data coding, and data visualization). A dataset of 265 comments containing hate comments was collected The study reveals that hate comment classifications on Indonesian political issues include demonizing and dehumanizing, negative action, disagreement, violence, negative character, and death. Interestingly, demonizing and dehumanizing are the most common types of hate comments employed by Indonesian netizens on Instagram. Most of these comments protest government policies regarding disagreement and resistance to a particular government policy. Thus, this study recommends addressing virtual interactions situationally, culturally, and politically. The study also provides implications for impoliteness perspectives by exploring examples of hate comments employed by Indonesian netizens.

Keywords: Hate comments, Indonesian Language, Social Media, Political Issues, Instagram.

Highlights:

1. This study investigates hate comments on Indonesian political issues on Instagram    2. Hate comments include demonizing and dehumanizing, negative action, disagreement, violence, negative character, and death.   3. Indonesian Instagram users tend to protest government policies regarding disagreement and resistance to a particular government policy.   4. Virtual interactions are employed by Indonesian Instagram users situationally, culturally, and politically.   5. This study highlights and contributes to understanding digital political discourse among Indonesian Instagram users.