Digital Humor as a Counter-Narrative to Radical Discourse: The Representation of Moderate Islam on the NU Garis Lucu Account

Abstract

This study analyzes the forms and strategies of digital humor, the ways humor delegitimizes radical discourse, and the processes through which the NU Garis Lucu account (@NUGarisLucu) constructs and negotiates representations of moderate Islam on X. This research is important because digital spaces continue to facilitate the circulation of exclusive and provocative religious narratives that promote singular claims to truth. The study employed a qualitative approach and qualitative content analysis to examine 103 items, including text-based posts, memes or images, short videos, replies, and quote posts published between September 2025 and February 2026. The researchers collected the data through nonparticipant observation and online documentation. They analyzed the account’s content and the accompanying audience responses by applying Stuart Hall’s Theory of Representation, particularly the processes of encoding, decoding, and meaning negotiation. The findings show that the account uses satire, irony, popular language, symbols of digital culture, and interactive features to delegitimize fanaticism, intolerance, judgmental attitudes, and singular claims to truth without attacking personal or group identities. At the same time, the account normalizes tolerance, openness, dialogue, humility, balance, and communication ethics as everyday religious practices. Audience responses reflect dominant, negotiated, and oppositional readings, which demonstrate that users do not produce the meaning of moderate Islam through a one-way process. This study conceptualizes humor as representational de-escalation that reduces communicative tension and weakens the symbolic legitimacy of extremist discourse, although it does not directly demonstrate changes in audience behavior. The study contributes to the broader application of Stuart Hall’s Theory of Representation by showing that meaning production on social media operates through linguistic, multimodal, affective, interactive, and circulatory processes.