Tracking the Swelling COVID-19 Vaccine Chatter on TikTok in Indonesia

On Indonesian social media, ambivalent sentiments towards the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program are amplified and solidified into polarized stances, creating fierce competition between opponents and proponents of vaccination to shape public perceptions. • These polarized stances are particularly pronounced on TikTok as its videos swiftly go viral by providing quick visual impact and instant emotional gratification to users. TikTok videos on contentious issues tend to fuel strong sentiments on an intuitive level, even if factual evidence is flimsy. • On Indonesian TikTok, anti-vaccine messages are often mixed with global COVID19 conspiracy theories and merged with domestic anti-government and anti-Chinese sentiments; furthermore, they are typically couched in religious discourse and spread by religious micro-influencers. • The government tried to counter the online spread of anti-vaccine messages by pressuring social media companies to remove misinformation and block accounts that spread them, while also intensifying its vaccination campaign on TikTok and other social media by using celebrities and influencers. • However, the silencing of anti-vaccine voices on social media does not make them disappear, and risks being interpreted as “evidence” of the government’s lack of transparency and hidden agendas. Besides engaging in social media battles, the government would do well to engage in grassroots dialogue with the sceptics.