{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]],"date-time":"2026-06-20T16:17:42Z","timestamp":1781972262254,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,14]],"date-time":"2022-04-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1649894400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article examines the interplay between the creation of \u2018meme factories\u2019 by political elites, and their operationalisation through WhatsApp. It uses the case study of Indonesian President Joko Widodo\u2019s (Jokowi\u2019s) bid for re-election in 2019 to argue that political elites are leveraging meme culture\u2019s association with popular voice to \u2018astroturf\u2019 public discourse, and that WhatsApp\u2019s unique infrastructure advances that project. Drawing on interview data, we offer a holistic picture of the processes and structures implicated in this instance of astroturfing, with a focus on how WhatsApp is positioned within them. The authors\u2019 access to campaigners affords a rare inside view of these processes and structures, and contributes to a growing body of work on the WhatsAppification of election campaigns globally. In addition, the article builds on scholarship on social media election campaigning in Indonesia by drawing attention to the role WhatsApp\u2019s unique features play in surreptitiously influencing public discourse.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/14614448221088274","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,15]],"date-time":"2022-04-15T01:29:10Z","timestamp":1649986150000},"page":"2473-2491","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Memetic persuasion and WhatsAppification in Indonesia\u2019s 2019 presidential election"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0094-615X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emma","family":"Baulch","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Monash University Malaysia, Malaysia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ariadna","family":"Matamoros-Fern\u00e1ndez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Queensland University of Technology, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fiona","family":"Suwana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Sydney, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.37016\/mr-2020-031"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5210\/fm.v25i12.10412"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_1","unstructured":"Bradshaw S Howard P (2017) Troops Trolls and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation. 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