The Illusion of Information Disclosure Under Capitalism

The emergence of the hashtag #indonesiabutuhkerja, which some time ago went viral by influencers, drew criticism from many working people. The hashtag is considered to support the Omnibus Law which is detrimental to workers and other common people. The criticism also widened after the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) found that influencer budgets amounted to 90 billion in several ministries.

Political observer Djayadi Hanan responds that it is legitimate for the government to use influencers to socialize their programs. Separately, social media analyst Ismail Fahmi implied something similar: “Everyone when they see nothing lacking, supports influencers at first. However, when there is one, two, who can point out their flaws, it can turn into an attack. That is, the model of social media can be said to be a unique idea, which can show right and wrong, it can be very viral and intelligent. influencersthat among the public could be smarter. They learn from each other, amplify each other.” So according to Fahmi, social media ensures openness of information, where the battle of ideas is won by debate and explaining in detail to the public why an idea needs to be supported or rejected.

Sounds so beautiful. However, talking about influencers, about social media, about the internet, of course, cannot be separated from the question: which class controls these instruments? With the current democracy, with the current mode of production, (digital) information transparency has really materialized?

Openness of digital information in the era of bourgeois democracy

To answer the question whether digital information disclosure has materialized, we only need to remember the large-scale demonstrations by the Papuan people in 2019 where the "democratic" Indonesian government blocked the internet in the land of Papua. Even though the reason given was to anticipate the spread of hoaxes, what is certain is that with this blocking the disclosure of information has been suppressed. The government has silenced the truth voiced by the Papuan people. From this it is clear how the disclosure of information made possible by social media is inadequate.

In the United States, responding to the escalation of anti-racism demonstrations, Facebook has blocked various accounts of leftist anti-racism organizations on the pretext that these accounts invite people to commit violence. Although Facebook also blocks accounts of the racist right, it is clear that blocking leftist accounts is an attempt to put the brakes on the struggle of the American people in such a way as not to threaten the existing order.

In fact, responding to the Anti Omnibus Law Movement today, cyber police were deployed to arrest anti-Ombus Law activists who were active on social media.

Yes, social media and the internet will be opened freely as long as their users don't threaten the ruling system. When the users have started to attack the status quo , with real threats such as in America and Papua, it is very easy for this democracy to be silenced. By having access to social media and the internet, it is very easy for those in power to silence the voices of the working class and common people. This is because the democracy that prevails in "democratic" countries including Indonesia and the United States is a bourgeois class democracy.

The market logic behind the consumption of digital information

Mastery of social media as well as various online news portals in the capitalist system not only makes information disclosure impossible but also dictates the consumption of information in society. Social media and online news operate not much different from TV stations which apply ratings as a standard for the eligibility of a broadcast. The more viewers or readers, the more advertisements or endorsements posted, the greater the reward given to account owners/content creators.

Let's dissect how such a mechanism determines the type of information consumed by society. Data obtained by Tirto.id media from the Social Blade page states, as of July 2019, out of the top 100 Youtubers in Indonesia, the best-selling genres include:

genres

percentage

1 Vlogs (dominated by family vlogs) 39%

2 Games 19%

3 Music 14%

4 Popular information (sort of On The Spot on Trans7) 11%

5 Animation 3%

6 Technology 3%

7 mystical 3%

8 Culinary 2%

9 Beauty 2%

10 DIY 1%

11 Pranks/challenges 1%

12 Toy 1%

Of the top 10 Indonesian Youtubers (based on the number of subscribers), the majority are in the vlog-family and vlog-popular genres (a kind of On the Spot program ). And, if we observe, this vlog-family contains mixed content, from challenges, pranks, artist gossip, to showing off wealth. From the Cheetah Global Lab survey , the category of digital content that is most in demand by Indonesians is the entertainment category, especially infotainment. And from the Accurate Partners page , the 10 richest celebrities in Indonesia are mostly in the entertainment genre (Ria Ricis, Anya Geraldyn, Awkarin, Rachel Vanya, etc.).

From these data, the impression is that people prefer light content to heavy content simply because they prefer lighter things. It's as if their tastes dictate the type of shows. But this is not entirely correct. The digital media market mechanism (both online news and social media) which provides fees based on the number of viewers ultimately encourages content creators to compete in creating light content because it is light content that brings in more money, especially since this content is provided free of charge.

Meanwhile, creators who still maintain their ideals, are ultimately eliminated because their efforts to make money from digital platforms do not produce results. The capital they spend to create high-quality content is far greater than the income they generate from that content. So in the end, if they still want to make a living through digital platforms they are forced to lower the quality of their content. Thus, in the end digital media narrows down to weightless content. From this process also emerged influencers who actually did not have the qualifications to exert influence on society in political and economic matters such as the Omnibus Law.

Influencers, news content and bourgeois ideology

In “A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy,” Marx wrote “It is not human consciousness that determines their existence, but, on the contrary, their social existence (which) determines their consciousness.” That is, a person's consciousness and mindset are not purely the result of his own thoughts, but are shaped by the society in which he lives. And, we live in a society that is dominated by the capitalist mode of production, so the perspective that dominates is that which supports and sustains the existence of capitalism.

The mode of production of capitalism is a mode of production in which society is divided into 2 main classes, namely the capitalist class and the proletarian/labor class. Capitalists control the factories, the large tracts of land, and the machines of production, with which they produce goods for sale. Meanwhile, workers have nothing but the ability to work. The only way for them to survive is to sell their working abilities to the capitalist class. Only by employing the working class is the capitalist class capable of generating and multiplying profits. Without the working class, the capitalist class can only accumulate money by saving, not multiplying the money it has. This is the secret of the wealth of the capitalist class. But this secret is kept tightly so that the majority of people do not know and understand it. Society sees the labor-employee relationship as a symbiotic relationship of mutualism or mutual benefit. Because, that's what it looks like in front of them. In fact, it often appears that the working class needs the capitalist class far more than the capitalist class needs workers. Capitalists are held in high esteem in society as wealth creators, innovators, economic drivers and job providers. What is good for capitalists is good for society as a whole. Capitalists are held in high esteem in society as wealth creators, innovators, economic drivers and job providers. What is good for capitalists is good for society as a whole. Capitalists are held in high esteem in society as wealth creators, innovators, economic drivers and job providers. What is good for capitalists is good for society as a whole.

And influencers and online news writers who were also born, lived and raised in this society, their views, thoughts and mindsets were also shaped by the dominant class, namely the capitalist class. Even if the capitalist class does not intentionally instill their views on these influencers and news writers, the influencers and news writers will still have their thoughts shaped by the thoughts that are typical of capitalist society. This is why they are willing to be paid to invite people to accept the Omnibus Law.

Today, the working class can still urge a number of influencers to remove the #indonesiabutuhkerja hashtag, or criticize these influencers . But it is impossible for the working class to monitor 24 hours where influencer content and online news are detrimental to them. Unfortunately, these influencers and online news portals are far better known than the working-class media due to market logic. Not to mention, at any time the state can also muzzle working-class media if those media threaten the existence of capitalism.

Socialism for genuine information disclosure

As long as there are classes in society, full disclosure of information will never materialize. The dominant class will always dictate the type of information circulating in society, either directly or indirectly. In today's society, capitalists are a class that controls information. In order to realize true openness of information, classes in society must disappear. And this can only be done by destroying the capitalist order and replacing it with socialism.

Socialism is a social order in which the means of production (including the means of production of information, telecommunications, etc.), land and banking are jointly controlled not for the benefit of profit but for the benefit of all the people. And the only class capable of realizing this order is the working class, because it is the working class that is in direct contact with the means of production today. The working class also has conflicting interests with capitalists. In order to advance their interests, the working class must control factories and their machinery, banks, as well as control of the internet, social media, news portals and TV stations in their hands. All of these economic levers make capitalism dominant.

The working class realizes that its interest is not to make a profit.

For this reason, the control of factories, machinery and media in the hands of the working class must be carried out in a democratic and planned manner for the benefit of the whole people. The wealth that is created is not for a handful of capital owners, but for the welfare of all people. The factories controlled by the workers become the common property of all the people and are used jointly for the benefit of all the people.

To that end, workers must build a democratic workers' government whose task is to plan a national scale economy, in which all factories, banks and media controlled by workers must be integrated with this government. The workers' government, which consists of the workers themselves, regularly meets in a congress to discuss and make economic plans for the year ahead. Here, the workers' government thinks about how to meet the needs of all the people in the next year. The congress also discussed how the internet, social media, online media portals and TV stations were run in such a way for the benefit of the people.

With the control of the internet, social media and news portals in the hands of the working class, the market mechanism and fees are abolished. Without a fee , the motive for producing trash content disappears. Society will use the media to express quality works. Their idealism, which was initially pawned by the need to find a bite of rice, is now being reclaimed.

Economic domination in the hands of the working class will fulfill all their necessities of life, so that they no longer need to create content with the motive of making ends meet. Now, they can produce content according to their idealistic goals: be it for art, knowledge, education, etc. They are free to create without fear that the content will not make money.

With democratic control over the media, this new socialist society can effectively and seriously combat hoax news, distortion, hateful content, SARA discrimination, pornography, etc., which now fill media channels. Until today the ruling class has never been serious about fighting hoax news which is full of SARA prejudices because it is beneficial to divide the working people.

However, most importantly, there is no longer a media monopoly by a handful of conglomerates that determine the content of news that is accessed by the public; there are no longer a handful of capital owners controlling access to social media. The use of the media becomes free and democratic, because it is owned by all working people. Influencers will no longer dominate media channels simply because of their market mechanisms or commercial popularity, or because they are backed by billions of rupiah in funding. They will be judged by society through their ideas alone.

With socialism, for the first time the potential of the internet and social media can be maximized, thereby freeing humanity from ignorance and backwardness. Full disclosure of information will be achieved because there will be no more capitalist economic interests to restrain it.