Negotiating digital identity and conditional voice under algorithmic power

Gojek drivers’ online communities in Indonesia

Bibliographic Data

ID21717987
AuthorsMiftahul Rozaq (0000-0001-8128-3097, Telkom University, corresponding author), Moh Faidol Juddi (0000-0002-6868-9831, The University of Queensland), Miftakhul Fikri (Telkom University)
Year2026
Publication date2026-06-23
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14614448261452615
OpenAlexW7165790250
LanguageEN
References cited33

Digital platforms increasingly structure how workers communicate, construct identity, and express dissent under algorithmic governance. While gig work research has emphasized precarity and control, less attention has been paid to how identity and voice are negotiated within workers’ online communities. Drawing on Communication Theory of Identity (CTI), this study examines how Gojek drivers in Indonesia construct personal, relational, and communal identities in Facebook-based communities. Combining social network and computational content analysis, the findings show that expression is unevenly distributed and shaped by network position and community norms. Central actors exhibit greater discursive flexibility, while peripheral members experience constrained and conditional voice. These findings demonstrate that algorithmic power operates through communicative and relational structures, producing identity gaps and mediated inequality in platform-based work

Collective identity · Construct (python library) · Dissent · Identity (music) · Identity negotiation · Interpersonal communication · Negotiation · Online and offline · Power (physics) · Social identity theory · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Emotional Labor in Professions · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI

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