Comparison of Cancel Culture in South Korea and Indonesia: How Condition Cancel Culture in Indonesia?

Some of you may already know what cancel culture is, and some of you may not. So, what exactly is cancel culture?. Basically, Cancel culture is a culture of mass boycotting someone who is considered problematic, for example when that person says or does something that is considered inappropriate or offensive. This mass boycott practice is usually followed by stopping support for that person.

One of the first countries that implement cancel culture is South Korea. South Korea is a country that produces its own communication technology innovations such as Line, Kakaotalk and etc. The rapid development of technology, supported by the incredible speed of the internet, is the main reason why the spread of information in South Korea is very fast.

South Korea and Indonesia are countries that are heavily influenced by the world of entertainment. In recent years the entertainment world has been dominated by South Korea, many Korean artists and influencers have made it internationally. These public figures must be ready to receive intense attention from the public. Public figures will become perfect figures in the eyes of the public who are expected to set a good example for the community. South Korea is a country that upholds moral values, if a public figure is exposed to a scandal and is considered to have violated moral values, the public figure will or can be canceled by the community.

the factors that cause cancel culture:

1. bullying
the perpetrator of bullying does not receive adequate consequences from formal institutions (such as schools, workplaces, or the law), society often takes matters into its own hands through cancel culture to deliver "social justice."

2. disrespectful behavior
In the digital era, disrespectful behavior that goes viral or is exposed on social media often provokes strong emotional reactions from the public. This accelerates the formation of public opinion demanding social sanctions against the perpetrator.

3. rude behavior
Rude behavior that goes viral on social media attracts widespread public attention. This creates collective pressure to impose social sanctions on the perpetrator, especially if the rude action is perceived to harm others or specific groups

4. indecent behavior
Indecent behavior that harms vulnerable or minority groups often triggers public outrage. Cancel culture is seen as a way to protect the rights of these groups and uphold justice.

5. sexual harassment
Movements like #MeToo have demonstrated the power of cancel culture in exposing perpetrators of sexual harassment and creating significant social change. This reinforces the perception that cancel culture is an effective tool for challenging injustice.

The impact of cancel culture
The impact of canceling felt by public figures such as the many rejections of their presence in any media, the cancellation of projects that are being carried out or that will be carried out, to the cancellation of work contracts for the public figure's company.

Example case of cancel culture in South Korea
An example of cancel culture in South Korea is the case of a celebrity named Song Ha-Yoon. Song Ha-Yoon is an actor who was born with the real name Kim Mi-sun on December 2, 1986 in Seoul, South Korea, became widely known through his role as Baek Seol-hee in the drama Fight for My Way (2017). Her popularity further increased after starring in the series Marry My Husband (2024), where she played the character Jeong Su-min. However, after the drama finished airing, Song Ha-Yoon became the center of attention due to controversies that surfaced in the media. The public has begun to discuss the news that Song Ha-Yoon was involved in bullying during her school days that led to her dropping out. The allegations stemmed from a post titled "I was a victim of bullying at Song Ha-yoon's school", in which the author claimed that the actress abused a schoolmate during her junior high school days. The case was also discussed in an episode of JTBC's social program Crime Chief, as reported by Korea JoongAng Daily on Thursday, August 15, 2024. According to a report by My Daily via Naver, the King Kong by Starship agency confirmed that Song Ha-yoon had indeed been expelled from school. However, they emphasized that this was not related to the allegations raised in the Crime Chief program on JTBC. In the statement released, the agency expressed their awareness of the seriousness of this issue. In order to ascertain the truth regarding the bullying allegations against Song Ha-yoon, they are attempting to contact the party who filed the report for furtherclarification. With this case, South Korea has canceled Song Ha-Yoon by not giving her any projects and not allowing her to appear on any TV shows.

Comparison case cancel culture in Indonesia
Meanwhile, Satria Mahatir who is a well-known influencer in Indonesia has many cases that violate norms. One example of a case is when he was the perpetrator of one of the persecution of a child of the Kepri DPRD, Satria Mahatir was clearly involved and guilty in the case, The suspects were also charged with article 170 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum imprisonment of 5 years and 6 months. However, in the end Satria Mahatir was only imprisoned for 13 days because both parties agreed to reconcile. After Satria Mahatir left prison, he did not receive cancel culture treatment at all, instead Satria Mahatir was invited to many Youtube Podcasts. Although Satria Mahatir received a lot of blasphemy from netizens on social media, it all did not affect Satria Mahatir's career which continued to soar. This reflects how the entertainment world in Indonesia has not been able to apply cancel culture perfectly, unlike South Korea which has successfully applied cancel culture to problematic public figures such as Song Ha-yoon.

Positive Impact
Looking at the case of South Korea, which has implemented cancel culture, of course cancel culture has various positive impacts, one of which is as a means of social control in society. Social control theory regulates behavior through norms, rules, laws, and social structures. The cancel culture phenomenon also regulates behavior on social media, which has a strong amplification power to spread issues quickly and widely (Ng, 2020). Cancel culture also makes public figures such as celebrities, politicians, and influencers more careful in producing and publishing content, so as not to offend certain parties. If they are not careful,they risk losing followers, reputation, or even careers, according to Kirkwood et al. (2019), which states that online reputation can be jeopardized if expectations and norms are violated. In addition, cancel culture is effective in dispelling negative behaviors such as racism, sexism, and violence. For example, when celebrity Gofar Hilman was involved in a sexual harassment case, the cancel culture movement emerged as a form of public response to the offense, warning others to avoid similar actions (Kusumaningtyas, 2021). Therefore, we think it is important to implement cancel culture in Indonesia.

In Indonesia, although cancel culture has not been fully implemented as effectively as in South Korea, this phenomenon still has the potential to create a more positive social media environment. With cancel culture, people can be more careful in their behavior and communication, and reduce negative actions such as racism, sexism, and violence. Therefore, it is important to continue discussing and implementing cancel culture in Indonesia so that it can serve as an effective social control and create a safer and more inclusive digital space for all users

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