Interrogating Digital Fluency: New Critical Directions in Malaysian Ethnic Studies

Abstract

This study investigates how Malaysian youth navigate cultural identity, algorithmic curation and intercultural communication within digital media platforms. This study addresses a central research objective: examining how Malaysian youth use digital fluency across algorithmically mediated platforms to negotiate cultural identity, resist automated homogenization, and navigate the complex socio-cultural impacts of AI and social media. Drawing on semi-structured qualitative interviews (N= 24) with ethnically diverse university students, we examine the role of digital fluency in shaping online identity negotiation. The empirical findings reveal three primary dynamics: (1) youth actively exercise digital bargaining to construct online belonging while mitigating majority assimilation pressures; (2) users exhibit critical awareness of algorithmic bias and feed curation, employing tactics such as selective engagement and platform-switching to resist automated homogenization; and (3) AI and social media function as socio-cultural agents that simultaneously facilitate cross-ethnic solidarity and trigger privacy and surveillance anxieties. By defining digital fluency as a critical socio-technical competency, this paper extends Malaysian ethnic studies beyond offline consociational paradigms to illuminate youth agency in algorithmically mediated environments