Testimonial Injustice in YouTube Comment Sections: An Epistemological Reflection on Digital Discourse

Syarifah Syarifah, Jumino Suhadi, Devi Pratiwy

Abstract


YouTube comment sections are often treated as noisy and trivial spaces, yet they function as important arenas where people negotiate knowledge, credibility, and authority. This article examines how testimonial injustice unfolds in YouTube comment sections through everyday interactions surrounding contested knowledge claims. Drawing on social epistemology, particularly the concept of testimonial injustice, this study focuses on how speakers are believed, dismissed, or granted authority in digital discourse. Using qualitative discourse analysis, the data consist of selected comment threads responding to a viral YouTube video related to the Apollo moon landing. The comments were drawn from a dataset of 1,264 comments collected between 15 December 2025 and 1 March 2026, from which 9 comments and reply threads were purposively selected for detailed analysis. As YouTube comment sections continue to grow over time, the dataset reflects the comments available during the specified data collection period. The analysis shows four recurring epistemic patterns: credibility deficit, where testimonies are dismissed without engagement; uptake failure, where attempts to explain or correct information receive partial or no epistemic recognition; identity-based credibility judgments, where speakers are evaluated based on perceived competence rather than the content of their claims; and credibility excess, where confidence and technical tone grant undue epistemic authority. These findings suggest that YouTube comment sections are not merely spaces of misinformation or disagreement, but sites where epistemic norms are actively negotiated and often unevenly distributed. This article contributes to digital discourse studies by highlighting how testimonial injustice operates in everyday online interactions and by positioning YouTube as an epistemically consequential space rather than a marginal one.

Keywords


testimonial injustice; digital discourse; YouTube comments; credibility judgments; social epistemology

Full Text:

PDF

References


Akpinar, N.-J., & Fazelpour, S. (2024). Authenticity and exclusion: Social media algorithms and the dynamics of belonging in epistemic communities. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2407.08552

Anderson, E. (2020). Epistemic justice as a virtue of social institutions. Episteme, 17(4), 455–472. https://doi.org/10.1017/epi.2019.47

Chavanayarn, S. (2024). Epistemic injustice and ideal social media: Enhancing X for inclusive global engagement. Ethics and Information Technology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-024-10070-7

Chekol, M. A., Moges, M. A., & Nigatu, B. A. (2023). Social media hate speech in the wake of Ethiopian political reform: Analysis of hate speech prevalence, severity, and natures. Information, Communication & Society, 26(1), 218–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1942955

Dotson, K. (2021). Epistemic_Oppression_and_Epist. Social Epistemology, 35(4), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2021.1883506

Fricker, M. (2021). Epistemic injustice and the ethics of knowing (2nd editio). Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/epistemic-injustice-and-the-ethics-of-knowing-9780198848968%0A

Guenduez, A. A., & Walker, D. (n.d.). From patterns to meaning: A mixed-methods framework that enhances qualitative text analysis. Quality & Quantity. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-025-02357-7

Helm, P., Bella, G., Koch, G., & Giunchiglia, F. (2023). Diversity and language technology: How techno-linguistic bias can cause epistemic injustice. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2307.13714

Kukla, R. (2022). Speaking as a moral act. Ethics, 132(3), 402–427. https://doi.org/10.1086/718473

Langton, R. (2021). Speech acts and epistemic harm. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 49(3), 257–282. https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.12198

Lev-Ari, S., & Keysar, B. (2010). Why don’t we believe non-native speakers? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(6), 1093–1096. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.05.025

Matamoros-Fernández, A., & Farkas, J. (2021). Racism, Hate Speech, and Social Media: A Systematic Review and Critique. Television & New Media, 22(2), 205–224. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476420982230

Medina, J. (2023). The epistemology of resistance (2nd editio). Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-epistemology-of-resistance-9780197622781

Pradel, F., Zilinsky, J., Kosmidis, S., & Theocharis, Y. (2024). Toxic speech and limited demand for content moderation on social media. American Political Science Review, 118(4), 1895–1912. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305542300134X

Pratap, A., & Pathak, A. (2025). From Public Square to Echo Chamber: The Fragmentation of Online Discourse. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2501.18441

Rangaswamy, N., & Venkatraman, S. (2025). Qualitative Methods for Digital Social Research: Studies from the Global South. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-9843-8

Reed-Berendt, R., & Ganguli-Mitra, A. (2025). The relationship between capacity and credibility: implications for epistemic injustice. Medical Law Review, 33(4), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwaf039

Reibold, K. (2025). Knowledge-specific epistemic injustice. History of Philosophy Quarterly, 42(1), 33–51. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397832257_Knowledge-specific_epistemic_injustice

Rose, J. B. G. (2024). A critical perspective on testimonial injustice: Interrogating witnesses’ credibility excess in criminal trials. A comment on Federico Picinali’s “Evidential reasoning, testimonial injustice and the fairness of the criminal trial.” Quaestio Facti. Revista Internacional Sobre Razonamiento Probatorio (International Journal on Evidential Legal Reasoning), 7, 173–185. https://doi.org/10.33115/udg_bib/qf.i7.23043

Šori, I., & Vehovar, V. (2022). Reported user-generated online hate speech: The ‘ecosystem’, frames, and ideologies. Social Sciences, 11(8), 375. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11080375

Tobi, A. (2024). Epistemic injustices online. Topoi, (advance o. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-024-10100-4

Udupa, S., Gagliardone, I., Deem, A., & Csuka, L. (2020). Hate speech, information disorder, and conflict. https://www.ssrc.org/publications/view/hate-speech-information-disorder-and-conflict/

Wachs, S., Wright, M. F., & Gámez-Guadix, M. (2024). From hate speech to HateLess: The effectiveness of a prevention program on adolescents’ online hate speech involvement. Computers in Human Behavior, 157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108250

Wee, H. L., Karkkuläinen, E. A., & Tateo, L. (2023). Experiences of epistemic injustice among minority language students aged 6–16 in the Nordics: A literature review. Education Sciences, 13(4), 367. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13040367

Wilmot, N. V. (2024). Language as a Source of Epistemic Injustice in Organisations. Journal of Business Ethics, 195, 233–247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05644-9




DOI: https://doi.org/10.37905/jetl.v7i1.37063

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Jambura Journal of English Teaching and Literature (E-ISSN 2722-4880) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Editorial Office of Jambura Journal of English Teaching and Literature; English Education Study Program, Faculty of Letters and Culture, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Jl. Prof. Dr. Ing B.J. Habibie, Bone Bolango, Gorontalo Province, Postal Code 96562, Indonesia. Telp. +62 878-3927-2016 (Call/SMS/WA) E-mail: [email protected]