Digital Citizenship & Conflict: Social Media Governance⚖️🌐
In the dictionary📖, digital citizenship means the state of being skilled in using the internet in order to communicate with others, buy and sell things, and take part in politics, and understanding how to do this in a safe and responsible way📱🧠.
In this digital era🌐, digital citizenship plays a crucial role in guiding➡️ how to behave😶 and interact🙌 in the online world. However, a toxic place called social media has created a space for users to experience conflict, drama, and wars💥. Platforms such as Facebook🔵and Twitter⚫are great examples, it based on an algorithm system and moderated by users interested. The toxic user behaviour will write a long & short essay📝, offensive meme😂, toxic comment😡, cyberbully🤬other user on social media. This action reflects what Zizi Papacharissi (2010) states as the private sphere, where people create personal spaces to express their opinions and interact with the community💬.
Social Media Governance ⚖️
In Malaysia, we have The Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 (MCMC), which is Malaysia’s primary laws legislation that controls how online content and social media platforms📜.
Children under 16 will no longer be allowed to register social media accounts on covered platforms.Platforms must introduce age verification
Recently, news shows that kids below 16 years old will be unable to use social media🚫📲.
🧠Critical Reflection
In my opinion, this is a good move from the government as now kids have been exposed to random and stupid "brainrot" content, advanced thinking than us. Banning social media basically makes the kid able to "touch grass"🌱.
🎮Digital Conflict: Gacha Tribalism
Gacha Tribalism refers to players who are been loyalty to a specific gacha game🎮. Popular gacha games such as Hoyoverse games (Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero), Kuro games (Wuthering Waves, Punishing Gray Raven), and other gacha games have a massive player base, where minority players compete and compare🤬their favorite gacha games.
What is Gacha Tribalism❓
Argue which game is better⚔️
Defend your favourite game🛡️
Compare how many pulls of both games per version🎯
Judge “free-to-play” vs “pay-to-win” players💸
Spread memes, drama, and comparisons online😂
These behaviors are considered as digital conflict, where popular gacha communities participate in tribalism and start a war💥.
📍Which platform will see Gacha Tribalism?
Every social media platform, but mostly came from Twitter.
🤔When does Gacha Tribalism Happen?
Similar to gamble🃏, the gacha systems contain random rewards💰and one of it is the character up on the banner. However, the catch is player will lose 50/50 on the character up banner🎲. Moreover, when players are not able to fight⚔️the boss, they complain🤬about power creep in their gacha games. When creators or players praise and complain the game, the tribalism will be targeted and label you as a shill or bot, for example, "HoyoShill", "KuroBot". This creates emotional tension and frustration for players😡. This is where social media became a place to express their feelings🤬and join tribalism online🌐.
According to Ruotsalainen and Meriläinen (2023), he argues that toxic behaviour in gaming is situational and context-dependent. Gacha tribalism is to shape our emotional intensity based on game design and monetization, and community norms. This is where toxicity becomes more normalised🧠.
✨Conclusion
Digital citizenship is not just about using the Internet; it's also about being a good citizen online in environments where communication, entertainment, and conflict exist together🌐. Social media offers opportunities to express oneself💬and connect with others, but it also offers opportunities for toxicity😡, disagreement❌, and digital conflict🤬to spread. In the case of gacha tribalism⚔️, gaming communities illustrate the degree to which game mechanics and competition, along with monetisation systems, can escalate gaming players' debates🎮. Meanwhile, social media governance⚖️, including The Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 in Malaysia, is to regulate and control the online content on social media📜. But all these rules don't suffice, since community culture and the algorithms operating on the platform influence the behavior of users. Thus, there is a need to develop a strong digital citizenship so that users will be able to engage in a critical, respectful, and responsible way to create a healthier online community🤝📱.
📚Reference
Wilder, C. (2024). What is digital citizenship and why is it important | CitizenSide. CitizenSide. https://citizenside.com/technology/what-is-digital-citizenship-and-why-is-it-important/
Papacharissi, Z. (2010). A private sphere: Democracy in a digital age. Polity.
Ruotsalainen, M., & Meriläinen, M. (2023). Young video game players’ self-identified toxic gaming behaviour: An interview study. Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture, 14(1), 147-173.
Wardle, H., & Zendle, D. (2021). Loot boxes, gambling, and problem gambling among young people: Results from a cross-sectional online survey. Cyberpsychology, behavior, and social networking, 24(4), 267-274.
Yusry, M. (2026). Malaysia’s under-16 social media rule starts today: What parents need to know. Malay Mail. https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2026/06/01/malaysias-under-16-social-media-rule-starts-today-what-parents-need-to-know/221674