The Critiques of a Viral TikToker on Lampung Government using a Critical Discourse Analysis and Speech Act Theory

TikTok has become a medium for sharing many things. Some time ago, in 2023, the very popular TikTok video presenter, Bima, went viral on social media in Indonesia. He openly dared to criticize the Lampung provincial government’s policies in meeting the needs of its people. Because it was so viral, the president of the Republic of Indonesia, MrJokoWidodo, immediately reacted. This research aims to analyze the speech acts used by Brother Bima which have become very popular and received the attention of the public throughout Indonesia, especially social media users. This research approach uses descriptive qualitative research methodology initiated by Rukin, Miles, Huberman, and Saldana. This research found that critical discourse towards Lampung was dominated by assertive speech acts. This shows that the nature of the information in speech acts is factual and based on reality. Then, this research also uses directive and commissive speech acts to trigger people to express their responses to the criticism. This perlocutionary action was successful because it received a big response from the community and government, especially President JokoWidodo. As a follow-up, the president decided to take over all development carried out by the provincial government to the central government in response to Bima, the TikToker. This research concludes that social media such as TikTok is worthy of being used as a means and criticism to convey concerns, criticism and input on government policies in serving the community, considering that its scope is very broad.