AI-Generated Disinformation and the Public Trust in Indonesia’s Digital Democracy

Abstrak

This study investigates the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) driven disinformation and its implications for public trust within Indonesia’s digital democracy. It centers on a deepfake video portraying a figure resembling Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the Indonesian Minister of Finance, falsely claiming that “honorary teachers are a burden to the state.” Employing a qualitative research design, the study utilizes Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework, encompassing three analytical dimensions: textual analysis, discursive practice, and social practice. The findings demonstrate that AI technologies enable the manipulation of meaning through the strategic orchestration of language and visual representation, which is further amplified by social media algorithms prioritizing emotionally resonant content. These dynamics significantly accelerate the dissemination of disinformation and shape public perception within the digital public sphere. As a result, this phenomenon contributes to a growing crisis of public trust (trust deficit) and undermines the legitimacy of digital democracy. By integrating the theoretical lenses of Information Disorder and Digital Democracy, the study contends that AI-driven disinformation should not be viewed merely as a technological concern, but rather as a complex ethical and informational justice issue with far-reaching consequences for the quality and resilience of democracy in the digital age.