Jurnal Digital Media, Culture and Humanities
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2026): DICTUM : Digital Media, Culture and Humanities Journal

Digital Moral Order in Indonesian Social Media: Public Shaming, Collective Correction, and Social Harmony

Pramana Pramana (Universitas Sebelas Maret)
Prahastiwi Utari (Universitas Sebelas Maret)
Adi Inggit Handoko (Universitas Sriwijaya)



Article Info

Publish Date
25 Sep 2026

Abstract

This article examines how the LPDP alumni controversy in Indonesia produced, negotiated, and restored digital moral order in social media. Rather than understanding online controversy merely as viral outrage, cancel culture, or digital vigilantism, the article argues that Indonesian digital publics often interpret controversial acts through culturally embedded moral vocabularies such as shame, appropriateness, responsibility, gratitude, dignity, and social harmony. Using a qualitative digital case study and critical digital discourse analysis, this study analyzes publicly accessible digital materials, including social media conversations, online news reports, institutional statements, and clarification posts related to the LPDP alumni controversy in Indonesia. The findings show that digital moral order emerges through a sequence of communicative practices: perceived moral disturbance, collective moral reading, public shaming, collective correction, institutional pressure, and symbolic restoration. Public shaming in this context is not only punitive, but is also narrated as reminder, advice, correction, and an attempt to restore disturbed social harmony. However, this corrective logic remains ambivalent, as the desire to protect collective morality can become excessive, exclusionary, or harmful when amplified by platform visibility and public outrage. The article contributes to digital communication studies by proposing digital moral order as a culturally situated framework for understanding Indonesian social media controversy and as a conceptual contribution to communication theory from the Global South.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

dictum

Publisher

Subject

Description

DICTUM Journal is an academic journal that engages with contemporary discourses on Digital Media, Culture, and Humanities. The journal provides a scholarly platform for critical analysis, theoretical discussions, and empirical research that explore the dynamic relationship between human beings, ...