Did the Taliban Control Indonesia’s Antigraft Body? Computational Propaganda as a Hegemonic Instrument

COMPOSE Working Paper No. 005

Author: Ary Hermawan
October 2024

Abstract

This study looks into the online propaganda against 57 former employees of the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission, known as the KPK. The campaign, which was used to justify the firing of the antigraft fighters, showcases oligarchic attempts to extend their entrenched interests in cyberspace as an arena of political contestation. Using the Gramscian notion of hegemonic project and the Murdoch School’s social conflict theory, this study frames the rise of digital disinformation as a reflection of fundamental conflicts over state power and economic resources within the spheres of civil and political society. It shows how the struggle for hegemony among different interests as represented in cyberspace helps shape forms of political control in the country, including the use of computational propaganda as a hegemonic instrument to protect the accumulation strategy of dominant groups.

Keywords: Hegemony, hegemonic project, accumulation strategy, computational propaganda, political buzzers, cybertroopers

Download