Page 94 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Ethics of ASEAN

place on social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and
mobile phones. It is repeated behaviour, aimed at scaring, angering
or shaming those who are targeted.

Social media and networks provide the opportunity to connect but also enable unethical
behaviour such as trolling and targeted bullying. The anonymity of the platforms
contributes to escaping accountability by the perpetrators who hide behind fake or
alternate profiles.
On a positive side, ASEAN youth are also capitalising on social media to promote
social dialogue and support movements for ethical causes such as sustainability.
On a regional level, we have youth initiatives such as Young SEAkers that establish
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collaborative youth spaces and communities.
As young women are vulnerable to cyberbullying, Erica describes how young social
media stars and influencers, such as Sarah Ayu and Titan Tyra in Indonesia use their
platforms to promote body positivity and break stigmas on beauty standards.
A large-scale example of using social media for an ethical cause is the “Milk Tea
Alliance”, a democratic movement formed during the protests of Hong Kong youth in late
2019 and early 2020, that was joined by youth across ASEAN. Such popular cross-border
movements illustrate an effective and highly accessible empowerment tool for ethics
among youth.

Ethics using social media has a downside which our AUN researcher Pleum discussed
with Erica, called “Slacktivism”: this is idle online engagement in social media dialogues
and campaigns that fails to translate into ethical action.
According to Erica, using social media for ethics requires three elements: Awareness,
Advocacy and Action.
• Awareness is being mindful of current ethical challenges and issues in ASEAN;
• Advocacy encourages use of digital platforms to inform, influence and inspire
others for change;
• Action uses social media to make ethical decisions or create ethical guidelines
and principles.
Erica Lesmana believes that on balance ASEAN youth are using social media positively as
a process to build ethical awareness, advocacy and action that cross national borders and
integrates the diversity of ASEAN experience and perspectives.

Ethical Takeaways
Our fast-changing digital world throws up almost daily ethical questions in deciding who
benefits from the progress, what protections from potential harms are needed and how
to manage the transition for an ethical society. As Darren Acemoglu and Simon Johnson
conclude from their analysis of a thousand years of technological transformations, ethics
is a choice. 9

8 Young SEAkers https://www.theyoungseakers.com/ Retrieved January 30, 2023
9 Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity Hardcover, by Daron Acemoglu

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