Hate Speech About Politics in Social Media

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the largest countries that embraces a democratic system after the United States and India. As a democratic country, of course, Indonesia gives freedom of opinion in public in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 9 of 1998 concerning freedom of expression in public. Politics is one issue that steals the public's attention. Elections (Elections) are a concrete manifestation of the application of democracy in Indonesia. However, it is not uncommon in the arena of political contestation, expressions of hatred are often used by certain parties to bring down political opponents as well as attract public sympathy to win politics (detik.com, 2018). According to Cherian George, professor of media studies from the University of Hong Kong, hate spin is a deliberate attempt by hate rappers to invent or fabricate hate (which actually does not exist). The hate speech has been happening a lot in social media as a fast means of disseminating information. Furthermore, the factors that led to the rise of political hate speech, on social media are the presence of buzzers, influencers and followers. based on the Notes of a Number of Surveys released by PolMark (2018) there is an increased potential for the destruction of social harmony during the 2014-2017 democratic party. This is certainly a concern among all parties to cooperate with each other in overcoming utterances of hatred about politics for the sake of maintaining the unity of the nation and state.