Introduction

As the world’s third-largest democracy, Indonesia was once touted as a role model for democratization in Southeast Asia, especially after the reformist Joko Widodo (known as “Jokowi”) was elected president in 2014. However, recent studies show that Indonesia is becoming a “defective democracy”, following a series of “democratic setbacks” since the second half of Jokowi’s first term in office. A process of democratic regression has been deepening since, if not undergoing an all-out “authoritarian turn”. As Larry Diamond states, one of the key signs of democratic regression is a substantial decline of civil liberties. This has been apparent in Indonesia. In its 2020 Democracy Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Indonesia’s civil liberties among the worst in ASEAN (below Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand). Similarly, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance found that the deterioration of civic space indicates democratic backsliding in Indonesia. As Wijayanto argues, a clear indicator of that are growing threats to media freedom.

Against this backdrop, we turn our attention to Indonesia’s digital public sphere, where signs of democratic regression are also becoming clear. While digital media have long been hailed for their democratizing potential—providing civil societies with new means for political expression and action—studies show that digital media are no less amenable to illiberal practices or authoritarian uses. Cybersurveillance, Internet censorship, online repression, and digital propaganda and manipulation have increased in recent years. This is also apparent in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. Our research found evidence of cyber troops being deployed by powerful actors to mobilize consensus for elite agendas and to neutralize dissent. Democratic regression, then, appears to go hand in hand with the rise of “digital authoritarianism”, or the use of digital media to enable and enhance authoritarian governance.

Indonesia’s Narrowing Cybersphere

The manipulation of public opinion on the Internet occurs in the context of an increasingly narrowing digital public sphere. In Indonesia as elsewhere, the Internet was long believed to provide a free public space for civil society groups to realize their agendas, raise public awareness of power abuses, and fight for civil and political rights. However, in the last decade, Indonesia’s cybersphere has been subjected to stricter cyber controls and growing online repression, which threatens to curb citizens’ freedom of online expression.