Humble-Bragging Discourse among Malaysian Influencers on Threads

This article examines the sociolinguistic and pragmatic dimensions of humble-bragging among Malaysian influencers on Meta’s Threads platform. Integrating Speech Act Theory, Grice’s Cooperative Principle, and Politeness Theory, it analyses how creators navigate the tension between commercial self-promotion and cultural expectations of modesty. The study reveals that the interactive, text-driven architecture of Threads elevates the “sincerity cost” of indirect self-presentation. Case studies of prominent Malaysian influencers demonstrate that humility-based tactics, such as religious or familial invocations, often trigger audience skepticism despite aligning with collectivist values, while complaint-based displays of privilege are dismissed as manipulative. The paper advocates for transparent self-promotion and authentic vulnerability as essential tools to sustain audience trust and digital capital within the Southeast Asian creator economy.

illocutionary conduct, self-presentation, humble-bragging, whining, Threads application

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