The particular dialect or language that a person chooses to use on any occasion is called a code


 

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Copyright © 2024 The Author 
IDEAS is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 License 

 

Issued by English study program of IAIN Palopo 

IDEAS  

Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, 
Linguistics and Literature 
 

ISSN 2338-4778 (Print) 
ISSN 2548-4192 (Online) 

Volume 12, Number 2, December 2024 
pp. 2314 - 2331 

Face Threatening Acts by Speaker in Pornography 

Cases as an Attempt for Revenge on Social Media 

‘X’ in Indonesia: A Pragmatic Study 
Frisha Maia Gania1, Nani Surnani2, Dian Ekawati3  

frisha19001@mail.unpad.ac.id  
1,2,3Ilmu Linguistics, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, West Java   

 

Received: 2024-08-19 Accepted:2024-12-31 

DOI: 10.2456/ideas. v12i2.5745 

 

Abstract      

This study is motivated by the increasing cases of the distribution of pornographic content 

as a form of revenge on social media in Indonesia. The main objective of this study is to 

reveal the face-threatening actions used by speaker as an attempt to take revenge on the 

hearer using nonconsensual pornographic content, to reveal the strategies and linguistic 

characteristics used by the speaker in his threats to the hearer. This study took data from 

a thread on the social media called ‘X’ which the thread was uploaded as an effort to ask 

for justice so that the case gets attention and can be processed properly. This study uses a 

data provision method with literature review and note-taking techniques to record data 

related to conversations between the perpetrator and the hearer in screenshots uploaded 

in the thread on X. Data analysis was carried out using a matching method with a 

contextual approach by identifying language patterns and communication strategies used 

by the perpetrator in his threats. This study refers to the theory of face-threatening acts 

by Brown & Levinson, (1987) and the speech acts theory by Searle, (1969) as a conceptual 

basis. The results of this study are expected to provide a deeper understanding of the 

linguistic strategies of speaker of the distribution of pornographic content as a tool to 

threaten and take revenge on hearers. The study provides a descriptive analysis of using 

nonconsensual pornographic content, revealing threatening acts and strategies used to 

seek revenge on social media. 

 

Keywords: face-threatening acts, pornography, pragmatics, revenge, speech acts 

(Alphabetical)    

http://u.lipi.go.id/1457703302
mailto:frisha19001@mail.unpad.ac.id


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Introduction    

In recent years, the development of social media platforms has changed the 

way people communicate and interact with each other. In Indonesia itself, the 

development of social media has grown rapidly that it cannot be denied that the 

digital revolution has become unavoidable. One worrying phenomenon that can 

arise due to the development of social media is the spread of pornographic content.  

The practice of spreading pornographic content on social media involves sharing 

sexual images or videos of individuals with or without the permission or consent 

of the parties involved in the making of the content. The sharing of such explicit 

content can be based on many things, one of which is as a form of revenge. The 

activity can be carried out as a form of revenge with the intention to hurt or insult 

which causes harm and embarrassment to the victim. The act of threatening others 

is the same as attacking psychology and causing insecurity towards others 

(Sholihatin, 2019). The psychological, emotional, and reputational impacts caused 

to the victim of the spread of pornographic content as revenge have a major and 

ongoing impact on the injured party.  

Thus, the activities carried out by one party against the other, namely the 

hearer, indicate the need for comprehensive research and effective 

countermeasures because such actions are not only a breach of trust and privacy, 

but also a serious violation of ethical and legal standards. Revenge pornography 

generally stems from personal disputes, breakups, romantic problems or conflicts, 

where one party uses intimate content to take revenge to other party. This immoral 

behavior not only hurts the victim emotionally, but also damages the victim’s 

reputation and results in social isolation. Based on data from Catahu 2023 by 

Komnas Perempuan, the number of cases of Gender-Based Cyber Violence against 

Women reported was 1,272 cases. One of the main categories of Gender-Based 

Cyber Violence identified by Komnas Perempuan is Online Threats, which has 

become the most prevalent form of violence experienced by victims. The 

perpetrators most frequently responsible for Online Threats, as recorded by 

Komnas Perempuan in the personal domain, are ex-partners, with a total of 199 

cases.  

In Indonesia, revenge porn can be subject to legal sanctions under Law 

Number 19 of 2016 on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE Law), 

particularly Article 27, which regulates the dissemination of content that violates 

decency through electronic media. Although there are many international studies 

that examine revenge porn, few studies have explored this phenomenon in the 

context of Indonesian culture. This research aims to fill that gap by analyzing the 

use of social media in the practice of revenge porn in Indonesia. Revenge porn can 

be considered a very serious form of face threatening acts (FTAs) in interpersonal 

communication, which challenge or threaten a party's self-image or social identity. 

 



Frisha Maia Gania, Nani Surnani, Dian Ekawati        
Face Threatening Acts by Speaker in Pornography Cases as an Attempt for Revenge on Social 
Media ‘X’ in Indonesia: A Pragmatic Study 
 

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Essentially, 'face' refers to the emotional investment that everyone has in how 

people perceive others. People can lose 'face' (feel embarrassed, humiliated), 

maintain 'face' (maintain a good self-image), or increase 'face' (improve image and 

reputation). Committing a face-threatening act means threatening the self-image of 

the person, i.e. by damaging the person's 'face' for some reason. Face-threatening 

actions, which are actions that go against the victim’s face wishes, can be 

categorized as negative face and positive face.  

According to Brown & Levinson, (1987), negative face-threatening actions, 

which mainly threaten the victim’s negative face wishes, indicate that the person 

does not intend to obstruct the victim’s freedom of action, which means, the action 

can be in the form of orders, suggestions, warnings, or challenges. The action 

intends to command or request the victim to perform a certain action, or it may put 

pressure on the victim to do so. Meanwhile, actions that threaten the positive 'face' 

that a victim wants to maintain can show that the perpetrators do not consider the 

other person's feelings important. Such actions can take the form of disagreement, 

criticism, insults, complaints, reprimands, accusations, slurs, or contradictions. It 

shows that the perpetrators do not care about the feelings or wishes of the other 

person (the victim). 

This analysis of draws data on the messages and captions accompanying the 

attempted dissemination of explicit content from screenshots of conversations 

between speaker and hearer whose screenshots were shared by the hearer brother 

through her brother's 'X' or formerly 'Twitter' social media account in an effort to 

seek justice. The uploader (@zanatul_91) mentioned that both legal 

representatives and their families, including the hearer were excluded from the 

court, which made the trial process difficult. Despite filing a report with authorities, 

including the Layanan Perlindungan Perempuan dan Anak (PPA), they faced 

intimidation instead of help. This post is a plea for help on the ‘X’ app, hoping to 

draw attention to this case and the injustice experienced by the hearer and her 

family. The uploader (@zanatul_91) appealed to the public and social media to 

spread awareness about the case, potentially encouraging authorities to take more 

effective action. Texts as language that is performing a social function certainly have 

a social purpose and therefore can be a guide in expressing the purpose of verbal 

crimes committed (Mahsun, 2018).  

This study aims to understand the role of face-threatening actions (FTAs) and 

threat language that occur due to the threat of the spread of nonsexual 

pornographic content on Indonesian social media from a pragmatic point of view. 

The research aims to understand views on the strategies used by speakers of 

revenge pornography and that communication can intensify or reduce damage to a 

person's self-image or 'face' or in this study, the hearer’s 'face'. In the broader 



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landscape, it is expected to provide insights into policy recommendations, legal 

interventions, and support mechanisms to counter immoral forms of harassment 

and protect individual dignity and rights in this digital age. 

In this study, the speaker performs a face-threatening action as a means of 

revenge against the hearer by threatening the hearer with the distribution of 

explicit content without the hearer’s consent by imposing the hearer's negative face. 

The application of Searle's (1969) theory in this study is to see how the speaker use 

strategies linguistically to achieve his revenge and intimidation goals by analyzing 

language use in threatening messages and understanding the impact on the 

hearer's social standing and psychological well-being. Integrating Brown & 

Levinson's (1987) theory and Searle's (1969) theory helps the author to 

understand the complex interpersonal dynamics involved in the act of revenge 

through non-consensual pornographic content.  

Method Language research aims to collect and analyze data on a language 

phenomenon. Research methods are needed to ensure that the research proceeds 

without bias, is accurate, and reliable so that the results are reliable. This study 

bases its approach on the field of pragmatic linguistics and adopts a descriptive 

qualitative method by describing the phenomenon of utterances containing acts of 

face-threatening by pornographic speakers as an attempt at revenge spread across 

social media 'X' in Indonesia. This method is used to explore and describe the 

phenomenon in detail, based on data collected through observation. In this 

research, the selection of descriptive approach aims to provide a comprehensive 

and detailed understanding of the data, by analyzing the phenomenon of the act of 

face threatening by pornographic speakers as a form of revenge on Indonesian 

social media in a pragmatic context.  

Data were collected during the period from December 2023 to May 2024, 

focusing on conversations related to revenge porn cases occurring on the social 

media platform 'X' in Indonesia. The data validation process was carried out using 

a systematic data provision method, which involved bibliographic and note-taking 

techniques. In qualitative research, these techniques observe language use in detail 

and context, particularly effective in analyzing Face-Threatening Acts (FTAs) in 

revenge porn cases. The data provision process in this study followed five steps: (1) 

collecting data from threads uploaded by @zanatul_91 on the 'X' app, (2) 

transcribing the data and separating it into utterances, (3) categorizing FTAs in the 

speaker’s utterances, (4) classifying them into positive and negative FTAs, and (5) 

documenting the findings. The cases analyzed were selected based on the following 

criteria: 1) the presence of explicit threats related to the dissemination of personal 

content without consent, and 2) conversations with the potential to cause 

psychological or social harm to the victim. It is important to note that the data used 

in this study are anonymous, and the names and identifying details of the victims 

and perpetrators have been altered to protect their privacy. A limitation of this 



Frisha Maia Gania, Nani Surnani, Dian Ekawati        
Face Threatening Acts by Speaker in Pornography Cases as an Attempt for Revenge on Social 
Media ‘X’ in Indonesia: A Pragmatic Study 
 

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approach is the potential bias in sample selection and the inability to generalize the 

findings broadly, as the data collected only comes from conversations found on the 

specific platform 'X'. 

This approach allows the author to understand communication strategies in 

the context of face-threatening acts in conversations spread on social media ‘X’ in 

Indonesia between speaker and hearer of pornographic threats as an effort of 

revenge. Written data were collected through the process of reading and 

understanding communication strategies, then recorded for use in the next stage 

of analysis. The data analysis method used is the commensurate method with a 

contextual approach. The commensurate method allows the researcher to identify 

elements that are not directly related to the language under analysis. The 

commensurate method is a determining tool outside, independent and not part of 

the language (langue) concerned (Sudaryanto, 2015).  

The contextual approach considers the identity of the contexts that exist in 

the data analysis, which is in accordance with the concept of the act of threatening 

face used by speakers of pornographic threats as an attempt at revenge in 

conversations. The data were then classified after all the data were collected. The 

data was classified based on the context of the dialogue to understand the meaning 

and purpose of the act of face threatening performed by pornographic speaker as 

an attempt of revenge against the hearer by involving understanding the context 

and labelling the data segments based on the type of face threatening act.  

In this classification, one piece of data could possibly have several different 

acts of face threatening. The sequencing of the data helps in matching the data with 

the analysis to be carried out, by following the sequence of messages in 

conversations spread across social media ‘X’ in Indonesia between speaker and 

hearer of pornography as an attempt at revenge case. The presentation of the 

results of the data analysis is done in the form of a narrative that presents 

information in a comprehensive and easy to understand. 

 
Results 

In this section, the author identifies data from conversations between 

speakers and speakers in uploads on social media 'X' in Indonesia that have been 

commented on by other users on the application. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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DATA 1  

"Lo kasi tau temen lonya ngentot” 

“Kamu beri tau temanmu, ngentot” 

Context: 

Data (1) is part of a private conversation between the speaker and the hearer 

uploaded by the account @zanatul_91 on 26 June 2023 in a thread on ‘X’. The 

account describes speaker who has raped her sister and forced her sister with the 

threat of video for pornographic crimes as an attempt at revenge. The utterance is 

contained in the screenshot uploaded along with the description in the 1st thread 

sequence. 

 

Analyze: 

The utterance in data (1), is one of the speaker's attempts to take advantage 

of the hearer's sexual content to pressure the hearer to carry out his orders as in 

the above utterance. The speaker feels that he has authority over the hearer 

because he has something that the hearer is afraid of, has taken advantage of the 

hearer and made the hearer experience losses and fears from his previous actions 

written in the description written by the @zanatul_91 account in the first order 

thread. The speech is included in the directive speech act which is an order or 

instruction addressed by the speaker to the hearer which requires the hearer to 

convey a message to her friend based on the speaker's order. The illocutionary act 

is coercive and can be threatening with the aim of manipulating the speaker's 

behavior. The statement made by the speaker is directive and does not contain 

ambiguity in the command, which clearly instructs the speaker to take certain 

actions even without the hearer's consent, to telling her friend something. 

In the utterance, the linguistic feature as the speaker's effort in threatening 

the spread of pornographic content as an effort of revenge is to use a sentence that 

implies an order. The word that contains a threat or instruction is "lo kasi tau" 

which indicates that the speaker asks the hearer to reveal certain information to 

the other person marked by the word "temen". The use of the command "lo kasi 



Frisha Maia Gania, Nani Surnani, Dian Ekawati        
Face Threatening Acts by Speaker in Pornography Cases as an Attempt for Revenge on Social 
Media ‘X’ in Indonesia: A Pragmatic Study 
 

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tau temen lonya" is an example of a coercive communication strategy carried out 

by the speaker to control the hearer by forcing the hearer to take actions that the 

hearer does not want by showing the speaker's dominance to dictate his behavior 

by taking advantage the hearer’s compliance. The use of the word "ngentot" which 

has a negative tone to attack the face of the hearer is a harsh word used as an insult 

to the speaker with the intention of demeaning and belittling the hearer and 

showing the speaker's dominance in the context of threatening actions for the 

distribution of non-consensual pornographic content involving the hearer. The 

word "ngentot" is a variation of sociolect. 

 The root word of "ngentot" is 'kentot' which comes from the acronym 

‘kencan total’ but in changing times it has changed its meaning which leads to the 

activity of having sex in a negative context and becomes a swear word. The negative 

face threatening of the hearer by the speaker is an action that demands and forces 

the hearer to do something unwanted by controlling the hearer and interfering 

with the hearer’s ability to act freely and endangering the hearer’s social circle. In 

addition, the speaker violates the norm in terms of politeness by using swearing 

against the hearer. The utterance in the act of threatening face is a serious act that 

threatens the negative face of the hearer which can damage the hearer’s 

interpersonal relationship with her friends on the basis of orders ordered by the 

speaker and there is no desire for the hearer to carry out the order intentionally. 

 

DATA 2 

“Awas lo gue sampe pandeglang bener bener gue siksa anjing” 

“Awas kamu, saat aku sampai Pandeglang akan benar-benar aku siksa, anjing” 

 

 



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Context: 

Data 2 is part of a private conversation between speaker and the hearer 

uploaded by the same account in the same time and thread, namely the thread and 

evidence attached in order-1. The speech is in the same screenshot as data 1 and 

the speech is right after the speech in data 1. 

 

Analyze: 

The utterance "Awas lo gue sampe pandeglag bener bener gue siksa 

anjing" contains a threat that the speaker is likely to harm the hearer once he 

arrives in Pandeglang. The threat violates the hearer’s negative face because it 

inhibits the hearer's freedom and choice by threatening physical violence that 

threatens the negative right to personal safety and security of the hearer. The 

statement also expresses contempt and disrespect towards the hearer which 

harms the hearer’s right to be respected and treated fairly which is shown by the 

form of negative face threatening actions containing threats and the use of harsh 

words. The word "awas" expressed by the speaker as a threat signal gives the 

impression that something bad might happen if the warning given by the speaker 

is not heeded by the hearer so that it can be possible to cause fear or worry to the 

hearer. The phrase "gue sampe pandeglang" also identifies that the speaker has a 

real intention to carry out the threatening action at the specified location, 

Pandeglang, to emphasise his threat. The utterance can be intended to intimidate 

and force the hearer’s compliance by giving fear to the hearer.  

The speaker also gives a negative statement directly to the hearer to threaten 

to do severe physical violence by using the adjective "bener bener" (really) which 

is the plural form of the word 'benar' which in this speech shows the seriousness 

of the speaker in the intention to give significant suffering to the hearer. The word 

"siksa" is the main keyword of the sentence which shows the speaker's intention 

to commit violence against the hearer. In contrast to the threat of verbal violence, 

the speaker's use of the word "siksa" against the hearer in the utterance implies a 

prolonged and deliberate action to cause great physical suffering to the hearer.  

The coercion of compliance by instilling fear with the utterance that states 

physical torture to the hearer is done by the speaker to reaffirm his dominance 

through intimidation by using physical violence after the utterance in data (1). 

Furthermore, the use of the word "anjing”" which refers to KBBI VI means a very 

harsh swear word or curse, used when angry, upset, and so on. The use of the word 

"anjing" in the context of the sentence helps the speaker to strengthen his 

dominance and put the hearer under his control by dehumanising her by calling 

the hearer "anjing" as a swear word to intensify the aggression of his threat. 

 

 

 



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Face Threatening Acts by Speaker in Pornography Cases as an Attempt for Revenge on Social 
Media ‘X’ in Indonesia: A Pragmatic Study 
 

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The utterance is a threatening illocutionary act by conveying a message that 

intends to threaten violence against the hearer. The commissive illocutionary act 

spoken by the speaker focuses on the speaker's intention to threaten and 

intimidate the hearer because the speaker threatens to take certain actions in the 

future, namely actions that harm the hearer physically and psychologically. The 

speaker attempts to intimidate or control the hearer's behavior through the use of 

threatening and offensive language, so the speech contains elements of 

manipulation or attempts to control the hearer over the speaker.  

The threat shows a blatant disregard for the hearer's negative face by 

imposing the hearer's personal autonomy and freedom, namely ignoring the 

hearer's right to be free from coercion, domination and intimidation, thus 

weakening the hearer's sense of control and determination of her own choices. In 

the act of face threatening, the utterance has threatened the hearer's physical and 

psychological well-being and undermined the basic principles of respect and 

autonomy in interpersonal communication. 

 

DATA 3 

“Nanti besok gua temuin satu temen lo” 

“Nanti besok aku temui satu temanmu” 

  

Context: 

Data (3) is part of the thread with the 6th sequence uploaded with the description 

"The perpetrators does not want the victim (our younger sister) to live a normal 

life, for example with her friends, or just play with campus friends. In fact, the 

perpetrators repeatedly threatened to send the video to her lecturer just because 



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the victim was busy studying". In this data, the description that complements the 

speech spoken by the speaker in the private conversation between the speaker and 

the hearer in the screenshot included in the thread is in the first sentence in the 

description above regarding the speaker who does not want the hearer to have her 

own life by having friends and playing with her friends.  

 

Analyze: 

Data (3) contains a statement given by the speaker to the hearer to threaten 

the hearer's privacy and integrity. The utterance "nanti nesok gua temuin satu 

temen lo" is used by the speaker to explicitly state his intention to meet one of the 

hearer’s friends without regard to the hearer's choice or consent and given that the 

speaker threatens to meet one of the hearer's friends it can also be considered a 

breach of trust because in many relationships, there is an expectation of trust and 

openness between friends and the speaker's statement that does not consider the 

hearer's opinion and says explicitly without the hearer’s consent can be considered 

a betrayal of that trust. Therefore, the utterance can be perceived as threatening 

the negative face of the hearer in various levels namely, autonomy, security and 

trust and can certainly lead to negative consequences for the hearer such as anxiety 

and a sense of violation of her rights.  

The use of the words "nanti" and "besok" at the beginning of the sentence 

also indicates a specific time in the speaker's plan towards the hearer. The 

utterance implies that the speaker intends to interact with one of the hearer’s 

friends without the hearer's consent or control over the situation. The statement 

"gua temuin" in the data means that the speaker intends to start a meeting with 

one of the hearer's friends without the hearer's consent or knowledge so that the 

speaker directly imposes his will on the hearer’s social environment with the 

potential to disrupt the relationship between the hearer and her friend.  

The threat is intended to influence the hearer’s behavior or decision-making 

by showing a form of social control by the hearer by inserting himself into the 

hearer's social interaction, which can be used to monitor and control the hearer 

further. In the context, the speech refers to the threat that the speaker is likely to 

disclose the material or personal information of the hearer to others, which in this 

phrase is addressed to "satu temen lo", namely the friend/colleague of the hearer 

which will be detrimental to the hearer. 

In this speech, instead of giving a direct threat of violence, this speech can be 

seen as a veiled threat or manipulation strategy of the speaker over the hearer. The 

illocutionary speech act in this speech is most likely to manipulate and control the 

hearer's behavior, while the perlocutionary act is to make the hearer feel anxious 

and threatened. The utterance shows a form of negative face threatening action that 

contains a threat aimed at the hearer to give the hearer a sense of worry which in 

the context of non-consensual sexual content dissemination and burdens the 



Frisha Maia Gania, Nani Surnani, Dian Ekawati        
Face Threatening Acts by Speaker in Pornography Cases as an Attempt for Revenge on Social 
Media ‘X’ in Indonesia: A Pragmatic Study 
 

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hearer’s autonomy with the possibility of involving other parties in social 

interactions that the hearer may not want and creates a feeling of discomfort for 

the hearer or the hearer’s friend. The utterance does not consider the hearer’s 

negative face needs by not taking into account the hearer’s right to decide who the 

hearer wants to interact with socially or the hearer’s desire to maintain control 

over the social relationship. 

 

DATA 4 

“Semua KM kelas gua kirim kirimin” 

“Semua ketua murid (akan) aku kirim-kirimkan (konten seksual non-konsensual 

milik petutur)” 

 

Context:  

Data (4) is a connection speech from the same screenshot as data (3) 

uploaded in the 6th order with the same description. In this speech, the speaker 

threatens the hearer to spread the sexual content of the hearer to her friends, this 

can be said to be an act of revenge porn because it involves the use of intimate 

material as an influence to control the behavior and social interaction of the hearer 

with her friends and shows his dominance over the hearer by threatening to spread 

it to all KM or Ketua Murid (student leaders) which the speaker hopes that the 

content can embarrass the hearer and be spread to other students. 

 

 

 

 



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Analyze: 

Data (4), which is the speaker's statement "semua KM kelas gua kirim 

kirimin", is an act of threatening the dissemination of revenge pornographic 

content that attacks the hearer’s autonomy and ability to make her own decisions. 

The threat of sharing explicit content without the hearer’s consent is a clear 

example of violating the hearer’s negative face along with the description written 

by the uploader in the thread "The perpetrators does not want the victim (our 

sister) to live a normal life, for example with her friends, or just playing with 

campus friends. In fact, the perpetrators repeatedly threatened to send the video 

to her lecturer just because the victim was busy studying".  

In this context, the speaker's motive is to control and exclude the hearer from 

her normal life, either because of jealousy or simply the speaker's desire to let his 

power and control over the hearer. The speaker's actions described by 

@zanatul_91, namely trying to prevent the hearer from hanging out with her 

friends or living her life, can be seen as a violation of the hearer's negative face. The 

actions taken by the speaker can damage the hearer’s right to make her own 

choices, the need to be free from coercion, and the need to defend her own choices 

and freedom.  

The threat to send explicit content to all ‘KM’s directly contradicts the 

negative face principle because the speaker is forcing the misuse of the content on 

the hearer without the hearer’s consent. This action is a strategy of manipulation 

and intimidation by the speaker to show his dominance over the hearer and can 

have negative consequences on the hearer’s reputation, status, and social standing 

which ends up damaging the hearer’s negative face. The speaker's attempt to 

isolate the hearer and stop the hearer from engaging with socializing activities can 

be seen as a way of trying to exercise control over the hearer’s relationships and 

choices, which is in line with the concept of negative face threatening actions by 

manipulating and threatening the hearer.  

The act of face threatening is shown by a statement containing a negative face 

threatening action of the speaker by threatening the hearer to spread the sexual 

content to "semua KM kelas", the speaker can be said to have a specific target and 

have enough information about the target, namely "semua KM kelas" to 'send' the 

hearer’s personal material. The use of the word "gua" shows the assertion of 

control by the speaker over the hearer, followed by the phrase "kirim-kirimin" 

which shows another assertion of control over the hearer’s personal information 

and social interaction by threatening to disclose sensitive information without 

consent. The speaker undermines the hearer’s ability to maintain control over the 

personal boundaries of her own life.  

The speaker's speech can be called a commissive illocutionary act because it 

is a statement of his intention to carry out a certain action which aims to harm the 

hearer by revealing her personal information unilaterally with a deliberate effort. 



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Face Threatening Acts by Speaker in Pornography Cases as an Attempt for Revenge on Social 
Media ‘X’ in Indonesia: A Pragmatic Study 
 

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From the threat, the hearer can feel intimidation and fear as a result so that it can 

have a negative impact on her mental health and well-being. The utterance 

confirms that the speaker is not only sending it to one individual on a one-off basis 

but possibly to several people repeatedly, and is direct in nature by showing the 

hearer’s lack of concern for the impact of the threat on the hearer’s emotional and 

social well-being by showing a deliberate choice to impose autonomy on the hearer 

without attempting to protect the hearer.  

The act of threatening the hearer’s negative face by the speaker in the speech 

is a threat to the hearer’s privacy which in the context of the revenge plan carried 

out by the pornographic speaker is to share the hearer’s personal material without 

the hearer’s consent by using threats in an effort to take revenge. This refers to the 

speaker's desire not to let the hearer act on her own control but rather controlled 

by the speaker who directly threatens the hearer’s negative face by forcing the 

hearer’s behavior and potentially causing embarrassment and loss by putting the 

hearer in a vulnerable position so that the hearer can be forced to feel compelled 

to comply with the speaker's demands to avoid the social consequences given by 

the speaker.  

 

DATA 5 

“Gua kirim ke dosen juga” 

“Aku (akan) kirim ke dosen juga” 

 

Context: 

Data (5) shows the speaker's intention to spread the hearer’s personal 

material to a party with high authority, namely the lecturer, in order to achieve his 

negative purpose. The utterance is contained in screenshots and threads with the 



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same description as data (3) and (4) as a threat to the hearer to damage the hearer’s 

negative face. 

 

Analyze: 

In the utterance, the speaker threatens the hearer to send the hearer’s sexual 

content to the lecturer as an attempt to take revenge and control the hearer. The 

threat is likely to have a major impact on the hearer’s academic image because it 

can cause embarrassment and damage the hearer’s reputation in the academic 

world so that it can have potential consequences such as affecting the hearer’s 

relationship with the lecturer and can affect the hearer’s academic career because 

it can have negative consequences in the hearer’s life and affect the cornan's ability 

to focus on her studies and carry out academic responsibilities properly, and can 

damage the reputation of the lecturer. The speech that threatens the hearer by the 

speaker begins with the word "gua" (i) which shows the dominance of the speaker 

by emphasising the speaker's intention in making threats. Then in the sentence 

"kirim ke dosen juga" shows the speaker's intention to share intimate or explicit 

material with someone who has authority or influence over the hearer and 

threatens the integrity and academic life of the hearer.  

The word "kirim" implies that the speaker does intend to share the sexual 

content without the hearer’s consent, making the act even more dangerous and 

exploitative. The word "dosen" refers to teaching staff at universities. The use of 

the word "juga" at the end of the sentence can refer to the speaker's intention to 

dominate the hearer after the utterance in data (4) to send the sexual content not 

only to the class leader but in a larger scope, namely lecturers who have higher 

authority with the intention of humiliating the hearer and damaging the hearer’s 

positive image in her academic environment.  

The utterance is done by the speaker to try to cause greater feelings of fear 

and anxiety in the hearer and try to create pressure to frighten the hearer by 

worsening the existing situation. The threat can be considered as a form of 

harassment and intimidation by the speaker towards the hearer by showing an act 

of threatening the hearer’s negative face by violating the hearer’s personal rights 

over her own body image. With this speech, the speaker damages the hearer’s 

negative face by trying to control and manipulate the hearer’s behaviour through 

threats and coercion. 

 

Conclusion   

The research on "Face Threatening Acts by Speakers in Pornography Cases as 

an Attempt at Revenge on Social Media X in Indonesia: A Pragmatic Study" 

identified two main types of face-threatening acts (FTAs): positive and negative. 

Positive FTAs included insults and challenges aimed at degrading the hearer’s 

social standing, while negative FTAs involved threats and intimidation to control 



Frisha Maia Gania, Nani Surnani, Dian Ekawati        
Face Threatening Acts by Speaker in Pornography Cases as an Attempt for Revenge on Social 
Media ‘X’ in Indonesia: A Pragmatic Study 
 

2328 

 
 
 

 
 
 

the hearer’s autonomy.  The study analyzed 5 utterances from dialogues posted 

on the thread on ‘X’, revealing that direct and indirect threats were common 

strategies for revenge, threats to negative face were predominant, appearing in 3 

cases, while threats to positive face appeared in only 2 cases. The findings suggest 

that language is a powerful tool for revenge, with speaker using aggressive and 

explicit speech to humiliate and punish his target (the hearer).  

These findings highlight the importance of understanding the dynamics of 

face-threatening acts in online communication, which can lead to the development 

of more responsive policies for victims of revenge porn on social media platforms. 

Recommendations for policymakers include strengthening laws regarding the 

dissemination of private content without consent and raising awareness about the 

risks of revenge porn. Social media platforms also need to improve their reporting 

features for victims. Indonesia's culture, which prioritizes honor and family dignity, 

exacerbates the social impact of revenge porn, as victims often feel ashamed or 

isolated after being involved in such incidents.  

This study is limited to conversations that took place on a specific platform 

and does not cover the full range of social media platforms in Indonesia. Further 

research is recommended to explore the relationship between social context and 

face-threatening acts in online revenge scenarios, emphasizing the importance of 

understanding how language is manipulated in these contexts. 

 

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