<![CDATA[In the increasingly politicized landscape of Indonesian social media, public dissatisfaction is frequently voiced through complaint expressions, yet the pragmatic dynamics of such complaints—especially in YouTube comment sections responding to presidential statements—remain insufficiently examined. This study examines the use of complaint language by netizens in the YouTube comment section of the press statement delivered by President Prabowo at the Merdeka Palace on August 31, 2025, as uploaded by the TvOneNews channel. The focus of the analysis is directed toward forms of complaint that emerge as expressions of social and political sentiment in digital spaces, using Trosborg’s (1995) theory of The Communicative Act of Complaining. The research employs a descriptive qualitative method with purposive sampling as the data collection technique. The data consists of 50 comments confirmed to represent complaint language, which were then analyzed to identify the complaint strategies used. The findings reveal that netizen comments on social media exhibit various forms of complaint, which can be categorized into direct and indirect types. This analysis identifies eight complaint strategies, ranging from subtle hints to explicit condemnation of individuals. Each strategy reflects the speaker’s way of expressing dissatisfaction—either implicitly or assertively shaped by social context, emotional tone, and communicative intent. These findings demonstrate that complaint language in digital spaces is expressive, creative, and rich in pragmatic meaning.]]>
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