Digital Information Ethics in Family WhatsApp Groups: The Practice of Tabayyun Among Muslim University Students in Indonesia

Abstract

: Family WhatsApp groups represent a private digital space that plays a strategic role in the circulation of social, religious, and political information in Indonesia. Unlike public digital platforms, family-based digital spaces are structured by emotional ties, intergenerational hierarchies, and strong cultural values, which often prevent open information verification. This study aims to examine how Muslim university students interpret and practice tabayyun when encountering questionable information in family WhatsApp groups, and how power relations and emotions influence their decisions to remain silent, conduct personal verification, or engage in open clarification. This study employs a qualitative approach using digital ethnography (light netnography), combining limited digital observation and in-depth interviews with Muslim students at Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar who actively participate in family WhatsApp groups. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify patterns of tabayyun practices and the dynamics of information ethics within private family digital spaces. The findings indicate that students predominantly practice tabayyun individually and implicitly rather than as a collective corrective action within the group. Decisions to correct information are shaped by issue sensitivity, family power relations, and emotional considerations such as reluctance and fear of offending parents. This study highlights a significant gap between normative awareness of tabayyun as an Islamic ethical principle and its actual practice in everyday family-based digital communication. Keywords: Islamic information ethics; family WhatsApp groups; digital tabayyun; Muslim students; digital literacy