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Abstract

This article examines how dating applications operate as libidinal infrastructures that restructure and commodify intimacy within platform capitalism, using The Tinder Swindler as a cultural case study. Employing a visual-narrative approach within the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, the film is analyzed to reveal the structural exploitation of user affect and desire. Grounded in Lacanian psychoanalysis and Baudrillard’s simulation theory, the study argues that these platforms capitalize on the subject’s ontological lack (manque) which fuels desire as the desire for the Other’s desire. This psychic lack sustains a perpetual pursuit of recognition that can never be fulfilled. The swindler’s hyper-curated persona, a Baudrillardian simulacrum, demonstrates how the platform’s logic can be used to manipulate emotional vulnerability. Tinder transforms yearning into a site of value extraction through cyclical, addictive engagement. The findings show that users perform affective labor, such as curating profiles, optimizing self-presentation, and managing emotional availability, while behavioral data is continuously harvested. Ultimately, this article contends that the digital subject must reclaim the opacity of desire and resist the imperative of constant affective transparency as a form of critical refusal against algorithmic governance over the intimate self.

Abstrak

Artikel ini menelaah bagaimana aplikasi kencan daring bekerja sebagai infrastruktur hasrat yang mengubah dan memperdagangkan keintiman dalam lanskap kapitalisme digital, dengan The Tinder Swindler sebagai studi kasus. Melalui pendekatan visual-naratif dalam Analisis Wacana Kritis, penelitian ini mengupas bagaimana afeksi dan keinginan pengguna dimanfaatkan secara sistematis oleh logika platform. Berpijak pada teori psikoanalisis Lacanian dan teori simulasi Baudrillard, artikel ini berargumen bahwa platform memanfaatkan kekosongan batin dalam diri pengguna, yakni sebuah ketidaklengkapan eksistensial yang membuat manusia merindukan pengakuan dan ingin diinginkan oleh orang lain. Kekosongan inilah yang membuat pencarian cinta dan validasi tidak pernah selesai. Sosok penipu dalam film, dengan identitas digital yang dirancang sedemikian rupa sebagai sebuah simulasi, menunjukkan bagaimana logika platform dapat digunakan untuk memanipulasi kerentanan emosional. Tinder mengubah keinginan semacam ini menjadi komoditas melalui pola keterlibatan yang dirancang repetitif dan menggantung. Hasil analisis memperlihatkan bahwa pengguna melakukan kerja emosional seperti menata profil, memperhalus penampilan diri, dan menjaga ketersediaan respons, sementara seluruh jejak interaksi mereka dikumpulkan sebagai data yang bernilai komersial. Artikel ini menegaskan bahwa subjek digital perlu menjaga ruang ketidaktransparan dalam hasratnya dan berani menolak tuntutan untuk selalu tampil terbuka secara emosional di dunia digital sebagai bentuk perlawanan terhadap kuasa algoritme yang mengatur kehidupan percintaan.

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