Lived Experiences of Constraint: Digital Activism, State, Ambivalence, and Repression in Indonesian Digital Public Sphere
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21111/ettisal.v11i1.45Keywords:
Digital Activism, Cyber Conflict, Digital Democracy, Public Sphere, SLAPPAbstract
Digital activism has become a pivotal arena for civic engagement in Indonesia’s contemporary political landscape, enabling civil society to contest power and participate in the digital public sphere. Yet escalating cyber conflicts, disinformation, and tightening state regulation of online spaces have intensified pressures on freedom of expression. This study investigates these dynamics through a critical-transformative phenomenological approach using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), drawing on in-depth interviews with digital activists who have experienced cyber harassment, legal intimidation, and platform-based repression.Findings reveal that digital activism serves as a mechanism for democratic participation and public oversight, while activists simultaneously confront an ambivalent state posture. Protective measures—such as restorative justice pathways, selected improvements in the revised Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE), and government-led digital rights literacy initiatives—signal efforts to reduce over-criminalization. However, repressive practices persist through cyber patrols, risk-based surveillance, and the continued use of elastic legal provisions and Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). This coexistence of protection and repression produces a lived reality in which activists feel both acknowledged and constrained, reflecting a governance model that manages digital dissent without fully safeguarding digital rights. The study advances prior scholarship by shifting attention from digital mobilization to activists’ lived experiences, offering an Arendtian lens on power, participation, and the contested digital public sphere. It underscores the need for balanced regulatory frameworks that protect digital rights while ensuring public security.
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