DISINFORMATION TRENDS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: COMPARATIVE CASE STUDIES ON INDONESIA, MYANMAR, AND THE PHILIPPINES
Main Article Content
Abstract
The past decade saw a changing political landscape in Southeast Asia. From a promising turn towards democracy, marked by episodes of backsliding and authoritarian tendencies, and recently threats of democratic regression and political decay in most parts of the region, have dominated current discourse. Central to these changes is the evolution of information and communications technology, and the ubiquity of social media platforms as sources of news and information, as well as shaping public opinion. The paper looks into three cases in Southeast Asia: online hate along ethnic lines in Myanmar; Duterte populism and broad forms of disinformation in the Philippines; and increasing fake news and online radical Islamism in Indonesia. Trends, common areas of concern, and possible patterns would be gleaned from the case studies; and from there, distil prospects for engagement and better approaches against the growing concern for disinformation in the region. The research recommends that a more concerted and inclusive regional approach would help turn the tide against an increasingly deceived public.
Keywords: Southeast Asia, disinformation, social media, democracy
Downloads
Article Details
JATI PUBLICATION ETHICS & PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT:
These guidelines are fully consistent with the COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice Guidelines and the COPE Code of Conduct (https://publicationethics.org).
We encourage the best standards of publication ethics and take all possible principles of transparency and measures against publication malpractices. The Department of Southeast Asian Studies, as the publisher, plays its role of guardianship over all processes of publishing seriously, and we perform our ethical and other tasks.
- General duties and responsibilities of editors
Editors should be accountable for everything published in their journals. This means the editors should strive to meet the needs of readers and authors; constantly improve their journal; have processes in place to assure the quality of the material they publish; champion freedom of expression; maintain the integrity of the academic record; preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards; and always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed. In addition to these general duties, the editors accept the obligation to apply best will and practice to cope with the following responsibilities: - Editorial Board
Will generate editorial board from recognized experts in the field. The editor will provide full names and affiliations of the members and updated contact information for the editorial office on the journal webpage. - Duties of Reviewers
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions, and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper. - Duties of Authors
Reporting standards
Authors should follow the format of reporting the original research with accurate data gathered. The author should include sufficient detail and references to allow others to replicate the work. It is unacceptable if the author performs malpractices in the paper. - Originality and Plagiarism
The authors should ensure that they have produced original articles and must appropriately cite or quote if the authors have used the work and words of others. - Concurrent Publication
It is ethical and acceptable for an author to submit or publish the same research or manuscripts in more than one journal or primary publication. - Acknowledging the Sources
Authors should cite properly publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. - Paper authorship
Those who have contributed significantly to the paper should be named as an author and co-authors. Those who have participated in the aspects of the research should be listed as contributors. All co-authors should have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. - Announcement and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should include the financier or grant giver if the manuscript or research is financed by the research grant or any financial support body. - Errors in published works
The author is responsible for communicating and co-operating with the editor to retract or correct the paper when a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work. - Publication decisions
The editor should decide which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision. - Peer review process
All journal's content (articles) are subjected to a double-blind, peer-review process. Articles are first reviewed by editors and may be rejected because it is not dealing with the subject matter. Articles that are found suitable for review are then sent to two experts who are unknown to each other in the field of the paper.
Reviewers are asked to classify the paper as publishable, with amendments and improvements, or rejected. Reviewer's evaluations usually include what to do with the article. The author then sees the reviewer's comments.
Editors should be ready to justify any important points from the described process. Editors should not reverse decisions on publication. Editors should publish guidance to both authors and reviewers on everything expected of them. This guidance should be regularly updated and referred to or linked to this code. - Fair play
The editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. Editors' decision to accept or reject a paper for publication should be based only on the paper's importance, originality and clarity, and the study's relevance to the journal's aim. - Digital Archiving
The editor will ensure digital access to the journal content by the University of Malaya Journal depository section at http://jati-dseas.um.edu.my and MyJournal at http://www.myjurnal.my/public/browse-journal-view.php?id=39. - Confidentiality
Editor and any editorial staff must keep confidential all information about the manuscript's submitted and review process to anyone except the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher. - Publication and Submission fee
Authors are freed from submission fees. Authors are required to pay the Article Processing Fee, RM300 or USD80. - Open Access Policy
The journal is freely available online. Authors must agree with this open access policy which enables unrestricted access and reuse of all published articles. The articles are published under the Creative Commons copyright license policy CC-BY. - Reporting standards
Authors of papers should present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the article. An article should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable. Review and professional publication articles should also be accurate and objective, and editorial 'opinion' works should be identified as such. - Originality and Plagiarism
The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works and if the authors have used the work and words of others, this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
References
Abbott, Jason P. (2011). “Cacophony or Empowerment? Analysing the Impact of New Information Communications Technologies and New Social Media in Southeast Asia.” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 30.4: 3-31
Abbott, Jason, Andrew W. MacDonald and John Wagner Givens. (2013). “New Social Media and (Electronic) Democratization in East and Southeast Asia: Malaysia and China Compared.” Taiwan Journal of Democracy 9.2: 105-137
Almario-Gonzalez, Chi. “From games to social media: The evolution of trolls.” ABS-CBN Online. January 20, 2017.
Almario-Gonzalez, Chi. “Unmasking the trolls: Spin masters behind fake accounts, news sites.” ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group. January 20, 2017.
Barredo, Joel Mark Baysa and Jose Santos P. Ardivilla. “The Curious Case of Vox Populi 2.0: ASEAN’s Complicated Romance with Social Media.” Heinrich Boll Stift Southeast Asia. June 22, 2017
Benson, Rodney. (2009). “Shaping the Public Sphere: Habermas and Beyond.” American Sociology 40: 175-197
Boeder, Pieter. (2005). “Habermas’ heritage: the future of the public sphere in the network society.” First Monday, 10.9
Bradley, John R. (2012). After the Arab Spring: How Islamists Hijacked the Middle East Revolts. New York, NY: Palgrave-Macmillan
Business World. “Smartphone penetration to reach 40%- Ericsson.” 23 June 2015
Carlson, Matthew and Mark Turner. (2008). “Public support for Southeast Asian democratic governance.” Asian Journal of Political Science, 16:3, 219-239 doi: 10.1080/02185370802504076
Carr, Nicholas. “How Social Media is Ruining Politics.” Politico September 2, 2015 accessed: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/2016-election-social-media-ruining- politics-213104 on August 28, 2017
Chalk, William. “Indonesia’s elections face a disinformation crisis.” Policy Forum.net. April 8, 2019. https://www.policyforum.net/indonesias-elections-face-a-disinformation-crisis/
Chandran, D. Suba. “Social Media and our Responsibility: Individual and Collective.” 20 June 2013 in Indian Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies website.
Claudio, Lisandro. “Intellectuals have ushered the world into a dangerous age of political nihilism.” Quartz. 01 July 2016
Diamond, Larry. (2008). The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company
Freedom House. (2017) Freedom on the Net 2017: Manipulating Social Media to Undermine Democracy. Report. www.freedomhouse.org
Fuchs, Christian. (2014). “Social media and the public sphere.” TripleC 12.1: 57-101
Gardiner, Bryan. "You'll be outraged at how easy it was to get you to click on this headline." Wired. 18 December 2015. http://www.wired.com/2015/12/psychology-of-clickbait/ accessed 13 July 2016.
Goldberg, Jacob and Cape Diamond. “Myanmar cuts internet to Rakhine state amid unrest.” The Guardian. June 25, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/25/myanmar-cuts-internet-to-rakhine- state-amid-unrest
Gowen, Annie and Max Bearak. “Fake news on Facebook fans the flames of hate against the Rohingya in Burma.” The Washington Post. December 8, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/fake-news-on-face...in- burma/2017/12/07/2c1fe830-ca1f-11e7-b506-8a10ed11ecf5_story.html
Habermas, Jurgen. (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: MIT Press
Hau, Caroline S. (2014). “Privileging Roots and Routes: Filipino Intellectuals and the Contest Over Epistemic Power and Authority.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints 62.1: 29-65
Hofilena, Chay F. “Fake accounts, manufactured reality on social media.” Rappler. October 9, 2016. https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/148347-fake-accounts- manufactured-reality-social-media
Hudson, Laura. "Why you should think twice before shaming anyone on social media." Wired. 24 July 2013. http://www.wired.com/2013/07/ap_argshaming/, accessed 13 July 2016.
Inquirer Lifestyle. “Confessions of a troll.” Inquirer Online. August 28, 2016. https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/236403/confessions-of-a-troll/
Johansson, Anders C. (2016). “Social Media and Politics in Indonesia.” Stockholm School of Economics Asia Working Paper No. 42 (Stockholm China Economic Research Institute)
Kane, John, Haig Patapan and Benjamin Wong (eds.) (2008). Dissident Democrats: The Challenge of Democratic Leadership in Asia. New York, NY: Palgrave-Macmillan
Kenyon, Georgina. "The man who studies the spread of ignorance." BBC Online. 06 January 2016. http:// www.bbc.com/future/story/20160105-the-man-who-studies-the-spread- of-ignorance, accessed 01 July 2016.
Kushin, Matthew J. and Kelin Kitchener. (2009) “Getting political on social network sites: exploring online political discourse on Facebook.” First Monday (Peer-reviewed journal on the internet). 14-11, 1-15.
Kurlantzick, Joshua. (2014). “Southeast Asia’s Regression From Democracy and Its Implications.” Council on Foreign Relations Working Paper
Lamb, Kate. “Muslim Cyber Army: a 'fake news' operation designed to derail Indonesia's leader.” The Guardian. March 13, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/13/muslim-cyber-army-a-fake-news- operation-designed-to-bring-down-indonesias-leader
Leong, Pauline. (2015) “Political Communication in Malaysia: A Study on the Use of New Media in Politics.” Journal of Democracy, 7.1: 46-71
Madrazo-Sta. Romana, Julia Jasmine. "Smart shaming and our Pinoy culture of anti- intellectualism." GMA News Online. 06 July 2015. http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/517026/scitech/science/smart-shaming-and-our-pinoy-culture-of-anti-intellectualism, accessed 13 July 2016.
Molaei, Hamideh (2014). “The prospect of civility in Indonesians' online polarized political discussions.” Asian Journal of Communication 24:5, 490-504, DOI: 10.1080/01292986.2014.917116
Molaei, Hamideh (2015). “Discursive opportunity structure and the contribution of social media to the success of social movements in Indonesia.” Information, Communication & Society, 18:1, 94-108, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2014.934388
Montes, Cristina A. "A culture of healthy intellectual curiosity." Philippine Daily Inquirer online. 20 July 2015. http://opinion.inquirer.net/86862/a-culture-of-healthy-intellectual-curiosity accessed 13 July 2016.
Nielsen. "Online video is reshaping Southeast Asia's media landscape." http://www.nielsen.com/apac/en/ insights/news/2014/online-video-reshaping- southeast-asian-media-landscape.html 23 September 2014 accessed 05 July 2016
Nugroho, Yanuar and Sofie Shinta Syarief. (2012). “Beyond Click-Activism? New Media and Political Processes in Contemporary Indonesia. Fesmedia Asia Series. Berlin, Germany: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and fesmedia Asia
Ong, Jonathan Corpus and Jason Vincent A. Cabanes (2017). Architects of Networked Disinformation: Behind the Scences of Troll Accounts and Fake News Production in the Philippines. Public report available at: http://newtontechfordev.com/wp- content/uploads/2018/02/ARCHITECTS-OF-NETWORKED-DISINFORMATION- FULL-REPORT.pdf
Ong, Jonathan,Tapsell, Ross & Curato, Nicole (2019). Tracking digital disinformation in the 2019 Philippine Midterm Election. Public report available at: www.newmandala.org/disinformation
Ortiz, Lydia and Patrick Rafanan. “How Facebookʼs Rise Fueled Chaos and Confusion in Myanmar.” Wired.com. June 7, 2018. https://www.wired.com/story/how-facebooks- rise-fueled-chaos-and-confusion-in-myanmar/
Paladino, Brandon (2018). Democracy Disconnected: Social Media’s Caustic Influence on Southeast Asia’s Fragile Republics. Report.
Palatino, Mong. “Free speech under attack in Southeast Asia.” The Diplomat. 05 June 2014. http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/free-speech-under-attack-in- southeastasia/?allpages=yes&print=yes accessed 05 July 2016.
Patten, Steve. (2013). “Assessing the Potential of New Social Media.” Canadian Parliamentary Review. Summer: 21-26
Pertierra, Raul. (2012). “The New Media, Society and Politics in the Philippines.” Fesmedia Asia Series. Berlin, Germany: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and fesmedia Asia
Quintos- de Jesus, Melinda. "Media in Southeast Asia" speech delivered during the seminar- workshop Media ownership trends: protecting and promoting the diversity of media platforms in Southeast Asia held in Bangkok, Thailand 31 January 2012 http://cmfr-phil.org/inmediasres/melinda-de-jesus/media-in-southeast- asia-2/ accessed 05 July 2016
Raicu, Inna. "On the ethics of online shaming." Recode. 15 February 2016. http://www.recode.net/2016/2/15/11587868/on-the-ethics-of-online-shaming accessed 13 July 2016.
Ressa, Maria. “How Facebook algorithms impact democracy.” Rappler. October 8, 2016. https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/148536-facebook-algorithms-impact-democracy
Reuters. “Myanmar army fakes photos and history in sinister rewrite of Rohingya crisis.” The Guardian.August31,2018. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/31/myanmar-army-fakes-photos-and- history-in-sinister-rewrite-of-rohingya-crisis
Revesencio, Jonha. "Philippines: A Digital Lifestyle Capital in the Making?" The Huffington Post. 04 May 2015 updated 04 May 2016.
Ronson, Jon. "When online shaming spirals out of control." TedTalks. July 2015. http://www.ted.com/talks/ jon_ronson_what_happens_when_online_shaming_spirals_out_of_control/transcript:?language=en accessed 13 July 2016.
Ronson, Jon "How one stupid tweet ruined Justine Sacco's life." The New York Times. 12 February 2015. na- access 13 July 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine- saccos-life.html?_r=0, accessed 13 July 2016.
Safi, Michael and Libby Hogan. “Revealed: Facebook hate speech exploded in Myanmar during Rohingya crisis.” The Guardian. April 3, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/03/revealed-facebook-hate-speech- exploded-in-myanmar-during-rohingya-crisis
Sison, Shakira. "What's up with smart shaming?" Rappler. 15 October 2015. http://www.rappler.com/views/ imho/109333-smart-shaming, accessed 01 July 2016
Shirky, Clay. (2011) “The Political Power of Social Media.” Foreign Affairs. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2010-12-20/political-power-social-media
Sreekumar, T.T and Shobha Vadrevu. (2013). “Online Political Memes and Youth Political Engagement in Singapore.” Selected Papers of Internet Research, 14.0
Stecklow, Steve. “Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar.” Reuters. August 15, 2018. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-facebook-hate/
Susanti, Elvi. (2015). “Hegemony of the Social Media Twitter About National Issues in Indonesia and its Implications to the Discourse Analysis Subject in Colleges.” Tarbiya: Journal of Education in Muslim Society 2.1: 153-166
Tapsell, Ross. “Post-truth politics in Southeast Asia.” Inside Story, 17 February 2017 http://insidestory.org.au/post-truth-politics-in-southeast-asia/
Tapsell, Ross. “Disinformation and democracy in Indonesia.” New Mandala. January 12, 2018. https://www.newmandala.org/disinformation-democracy-indonesia/
Taylor, Astra. (2014). The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age. New York, NY: Picador
Vadrevu, Shobha and Sun Sun Lim (2012). “Youth, Politics and Social Media in Southeast Asia: Trends, Events and Implications.” Youth: Future Agents of Change or Guardians of Establishment? Hofmeister (ed.) Singapore, Singapore: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung: 19-28.
Velasco, Djorina. (undated). “Introduction: Youth and Politics in Southeast Asia.” Go! Young Progressives in Southeast Asia :ix-xiii
Vergara, Robert A. Jr. "Filipinos and smart-shaming." The Varsitarian. 30 January 2016. http://varsitarian.net/ opinion/20160130/filipinos_and_smart_shaming, accessed 13 July 2016.
Woolley, Samuel and Marina Gorbis. “Social media bots threaten democracy. But we are not helpless.” The Guardian. October 16, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/16/bots-social-media-threaten- democracy-technology
Yi-Chen Wang, Michelle (2018). “Disinformation in South East Asia: Governments as the sources.” gOv.news Medium. https://g0v.news/disinformation-in-south-east-asia- governments-as-the-sources-7da47c38cd54
Young, Jessica, Preetha Swammy and David Danks. (2018). “Beyond AI: Responses to Hate Speech and Disinformation.” Carnegie Mellon University. http://jessica- young.com/research/Beyond-AI-Responses-to-Hate-Speech-and-Disinformation.pdf
____. (2014). Ericsson Mobility Report: Southeast Asia and Oceania
____. “Indonesian police uncover ‘fake news factory.’” The Straits Times. September 17, 2017. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesian-police-uncover-fake- news-factory
____. “Indonesia court sentences administrator of 'fake news factory' Saracen to jail.” The Straits Times. January 12, 2018. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se- asia/indonesia-court-sentences-administrator-of-fake-news-factory-saracen-to-jail
____. “If Indonesia wants to combat hoaxes it must fix its public broadcasters.” Indonesia at Melbourne. September 25, 2017. https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/if- indonesia-wants-to-combat-hoaxes-it-must-fix-its-public-broadcasters/