Founder of Drone Emprit: Social Media Causing Polarization

PPIM.UINJKT.AC.ID – People nowadays were facing social dilemma caused by social media, where algorithm had controlled them and created polarization, the creator of Drone Emprit application, Ismail Fahmi, said on Friday (9/10).

He was speaking in a virtual seminar series of #ModerasiBeragama (Religious Moderation) themed “Social Media for Religious Moderation” organized by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta through Convey Indonesia program.

According to a research entitled “We are Social”, YouTube and WhatsApp had become the most-used digital platforms. Among young people, in fact, video sharing app TikTok had started to boom.

“We can see that TikTok and YouTube have become parts of their life. Based on age demography, young people use YouTube and WhatsApp a lot. Sometimes they also use Line. That is how they live life now,” Ismail said.

He revealed that basically, there was no social media platform that significantly dominated others, because none of them provided exclusive contents. If one platform raised one issue, we could also find it on other platforms. Algorithm system had enabled us to do so.

“Social media algorithms were created to respond to what people needed in cyberspace. It has made the users exist and can maintain the engagement high,” Ismail said. “With the algorithm, content providers can analyse what social media users like to see and who they like to make interactions with. Therefore, a user can always see the content theme that he/she likes on their social media account.”

Social media also has a feature that puts users who have the same interest under one category. If we find an issue, it is like we enter an endless rabbit hole. If we look further, we can see people interact with each other, sometimes they clash. One narrative in social media can trigger pros and cons from different groups.

“That is why a high polarization puts us into a dilemma,” Ismail said.

The virtual seminar on Religious Moderation is held every Friday via “Convey Indonesia” and “PPIM UIN Jakarta” official Youtube channels. The discussion, moderated by Convey Indonesian Team Leader Jamhari Makruf, also presented Abdul Karim Munthe, M.H, Head of Islamic Media Syndication, and Iim Halimatusa’diyah, Ph.D., research coordinator for “Media and Religious Conservatism”, as speakers.

Writer: Andita Putri Ghassani
Editor: Zhella Apriesta