Hoaxes in the 2019 General Election: Patterns, Motives, and Impacts on Democracy in Indonesia

Abstract

In the last decade, electoral democracy in Indonesia has been marked by the massive spread of hoax news (fake news). The escalation of the spread of hoax news occurred in the 2019 general elections which were held simultaneously to elect the president-vice president and members of the legislative assembly at the central and regional levels. The hoax news was spread massively through social media networks aimed at attacking presidential candidates, supporting parties, and election organizers (KPU). By using qualitative research methods, this study focuses on the following two areas. First, it examines the patterns and motives of the spread of hoax information in general that were spread through social media in the 2019 general elections in Indonesia. Second, it scrutinizes the impacts caused by the massive spread of hoax information on the quality of electoral democracy in Indonesia. This study found that the pattern of issues that became massive hoax narratives spread on social media were aimed at the presidential candidates. The frequency of hoax narratives aimed at Prabowo Subianto was greater than that directed at Joko Widodo in the 2019 presidential election. However, in terms of the variation of hoax issue patterns used to attack Joko Widodo, there were more than those used to attack Prabowo Subianto in the 2019 presidential election. Second, the various patterns of hoax issues and narratives circulating on social media aimed at discrediting presidential candidates have four major impacts on the building of democracy and nationality in Indonesia. First, hoax news attempts to marginalize substantial ideas in electoral political contests. Second, hoax news influences and misleads public perceptions and opinions. Third, hoax news tries to weaken public trust in democratic institutions in Indonesia. Fourth, hoax news impacts the occurrence of social segregation and sharp polarization in society.