'This will be the WhatsApp election': Crypto-publics and digital citizenship in Malaysia's GE14 election

Johns, A

'This will be the WhatsApp election': Crypto-publics and digital citizenship in Malaysia's GE14 election

Johns, A

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Publisher:: University of Illinois at Chicago Library https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10381/8298
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: First Monday, 2020, 25, (12)
Issue Date:: 2020-01-05

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Johns, A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3946-7869
dc.date.accessioned	2021-02-16T02:34:45Z
dc.date.available	2021-02-16T02:34:45Z
dc.date.issued	2020-01-05
dc.identifier.citation	First Monday, 2020, 25, (12)
dc.identifier.issn	1396-0466
dc.identifier.issn	1396-0466
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/146135
dc.description.abstract	<jats:p>This paper draws on data collected with Malaysian–Chinese activists and everyday citizens (aged 18–24) who used WhatsApp groups to discuss politically contentious views and actions between 2016 and 2018, prior to the GE14 election. The paper will reveal the extent to which WhatsApp enabled a ‘safe space’ for citizens to engage in political chat and activism in a context of government censorship and surveillance of more open social media platforms. A key finding is that the state’s use of the Sedition Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act to take legal action against citizens engaging in political dissent on social media produced ‘chilling effects’, leading to changes in the styles and repertoires of civic and political action adopted by participants. This was registered in a shift away from public-facing social media (Twitter, Facebook) toward use of encrypted group chat on WhatsApp and, to a lesser extent, Telegram to shape new publics, which I examine in the paper using the concept of ‘crypto-publics’.</jats:p>
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	University of Illinois at Chicago Library https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10381/8298
dc.publisher	https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10381/8298
dc.relation.ispartof	First Monday
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.5210/fm.v25i12.10381
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.subject	0806 Information Systems, 0807 Library and Information Studies, 2001 Communication and Media Studies
dc.subject.classification	Information & Library Sciences
dc.title	'This will be the WhatsApp election': Crypto-publics and digital citizenship in Malaysia's GE14 election
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	25
utslib.for	0806 Information Systems
utslib.for	0807 Library and Information Studies
utslib.for	2001 Communication and Media Studies
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
utslib.copyright.status	recently_added	*
pubs.consider-herdc	false
dc.date.updated	2021-02-16T02:34:14Z
pubs.issue	12
pubs.publication-status	Published online
pubs.volume	25
utslib.citation.issue	12

Abstract:

This paper draws on data collected with Malaysian–Chinese activists and everyday citizens (aged 18–24) who used WhatsApp groups to discuss politically contentious views and actions between 2016 and 2018, prior to the GE14 election. The paper will reveal the extent to which WhatsApp enabled a ‘safe space’ for citizens to engage in political chat and activism in a context of government censorship and surveillance of more open social media platforms. A key finding is that the state’s use of the Sedition Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act to take legal action against citizens engaging in political dissent on social media produced ‘chilling effects’, leading to changes in the styles and repertoires of civic and political action adopted by participants. This was registered in a shift away from public-facing social media (Twitter, Facebook) toward use of encrypted group chat on WhatsApp and, to a lesser extent, Telegram to shape new publics, which I examine in the paper using the concept of ‘crypto-publics’.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/146135