Paper short abstract:

This study examines the potential of meme platforms as catalysts for collective action among Indonesian tech workers. It highlights how humor and online spaces enable these workers to navigate the precarity and injustices they experience in their work environment, and to organize against them.

Paper long abstract:

Workers at technological companies are portrayed as often disregarding political establishments. Barbrook and Cameron (1996) described the technological workers at Silicon Valley as a group that advocates technology as the problem solver and to reduce the influence of nation-states in private lives. While the industry landscape has changed, similar depictions persist from more recent academic works to popular cultures. This portrayal often includes the success story and job prestige of working at big technological companies. However, beyond such a narrative, technological workers are facing precarity due to the industry's volatile nature. In this regard, some of them utilize social media to negotiate the situation.

This article discusses the sociality that emerged around Ecommurz, the satirical Instagram meme account that specifically addressed the experience of Indonesian technology workers. The article argues that through shared memes and online discussions on the common workers' experience, Ecommurz enables them to navigate the constant uncertainties in their work environment. Moreover, the account's diverse digital platforms become spaces for information exchange and collective action, fostering a sense of community and solidarity among tech workers in Indonesia's absence of workers' organized movement. These practices serve as the basis of organizations fighting against perceived injustices such as unpaid salaries and exploitative labour practices within Indonesian technological companies.