Malaysians turn to Clubhouse amid coronavirus lockdown, weighing its inequities vs practicality
- Science minister Khairy Jamaluddin, actress Maya Karin and disgraced ex-premier Najib Razak have all used the audio-chat app to reach out to audiences
- Describing it as ‘talk radio where anything goes’, one analyst said Clubhouse could end up being overrun by misinformation, including on Covid-19 vaccines
Each has appeared in Clubhouse “rooms” as a speaker, where they discuss topics of their choosing and audience members drop in (and out) or raise hands to ask questions. The app has become widely popular in the social media sphere, giving Malaysians a chance to interact with opinion makers and politicians even as they are kept largely indoors due to a nationwide coronavirus lockdown and state of emergency.
The app’s appeal lies partly in the temporary nature of a “room” – once the talk is over, the room disappears, leaving no evidence of who said what to whom. This explains the app’s brief popularity in China, where it has already been blocked.
“There is also a lower barrier to participate compared to Zoom and other videoconferencing apps,” explained Harris Zainul, a Kuala Lumpur-based analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies.