- 02/09/2021
- Category: Commentaries
In the 21st century, social media have become an inseparable part of our daily lives. It allowed us to reach out to people, regardless of their time and place. It also allowed our opinions and views to reach a bigger audience than ever before. However, these opinions sometimes attracted the attention of authorities due to its nature of voicing discontent towards the current regime of a given country. In some countries where there is strong discontent towards the regime, the authorities took the step of cracking down on social media contents. This crackdown is not limited to non-democratic countries, but also applies to some democratic countries, such as countries in Southeast Asia. Indonesia and the Philippines, two biggest democracies in the region, experienced social media crackdown. The crackdowns in Indonesia primarily targeted activists who voiced discontent with the current regime of President Joko Widodo or Jokowi. While in the Philippines, crackdowns mostly occurred after the populist and brash President Rodrigo Duterte came into power. As a result, the number of online activities penalization have increased, with most of them penalized under the libel law. COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines have also led to more penalization of online activities under the pretext of spreading false information[1]. This article will argue that democratic governments in Southeast Asia committed social media crackdown in order for populist leaders to retain power and keep their constituencies; and hence the future of social media freedom in Southeast Asia is still uncertain.
Populism in Asia is primarily spurred by religious and ethnic divides and social inequality[2]. Generally, populism could be defined as a political movement that claim to speak on behalf of ordinary people and these ordinary people must stand in opposition to an elite establishment which stops them from fulfilling their political preferences[3]. According to Ben Bland as quoted by Council on Foreign Relations (2020), both Jokowi and Rodrigo Duterte could be considered as populist, albeit with different leadership styles. Research done by Kenny, showed that populist rule is associated in press freedom decline, including on the internet[4].
One example of the decline of internet freedom could be seen during the Omnibus Law protest in Indonesia. In the days following the protest, the police arrested several people and charged them with incitement under the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, accusing them of using social media to incite protests that the government painted as riots[5]. Some experts and activists also said that Jokowi uses internet trolls called “buzzers” to try to control the narrative in the social media about his administration and sometimes to also attack social media accounts. In the Philippines meanwhile, authorities are misusing COVID-19 law under the pretext of spreading fake news related to the COVID-19 pandemic to punish critics. A human rights lawyer had disclosed that a Facebook user was subpoenaed due to the user’s critical posts, citing the COVID-19 law[6]. Other than the COVID-19 law, Duterte’s regime also used libel law to silence the critics. One recent and high-profile libel case is the case of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa over a tweet about a disputed article[7]. Like Jokowi, Duterte also uses internet trolls to promote pro-government narratives and to drown out dissent, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic[8].
The future of social media freedom in the democracies of Southeast is still uncertain. Indonesia, as one of biggest democracies in the region, is currently drafting a regulation that can block social media on the basis of preventing the spread of hoaxes and fake news[9]. Aside from the presence of populism or proposed regulation, social media freedom could also be hampered by the advancement of technology. According to a research by an OSCE researcher, artificial intelligence (AI) could affect freedom of expression and media freedom, including limiting them. AI here is defined as automated, data-driven processes. To police speech, AI is often applied to identify and remove content considered illegal or undesirable, both by states and intermediaries[10]. Often states and intermediaries use vague definitions of “undesirable content”, which sometimes also accompany the absence of due process. Even when the AI is under the control of tech companies, governments could still influence how the AI is set to operate in a given region. This can be done through content removal requests, which is quite common in Indonesia and Philippines. This shows how governments have the power to use technological features to infringe on freedom of speech that are considered threatening for them.
In short, the prevalence of social media in the 21st century has made it a platform in which people can voice opinions and to criticize those in power. However, these opinions and critics also attracted attention from authorities, both in authoritarian states and democracies alike. In the democracies of Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia and Philippines, criticism against the government can attract unwanted attention from authorities or worse. An explanation for such a crackdown could be attributed to populist leaders in both countries. Populist leaders in these two countries use laws and trolls to silence dissent in social media. Moreover, the future of social media freedom is still uncertain, due to governments’ influence on how tech-companies based AI is set to operate on a given region, by placing stringent requirements for them to operate on that region or sending content removal requests. Despite these grim situations and outlook, concerned citizens should never stop voicing their opinions and dissents, because it might be the only thing that prevents the democracies of Southeast Asia from going any further into the authoritarian rabbit hole.
Author: Maula Mohamad Haykal
Editor: Heidira Witri Hadayani
[1] Freedom House (2020). Philippines: Freedom on The Net 2020 [online]. Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/philippines/freedom-net/2020 (Accessed 20 August 2021).
[2] Kurlantzik, J. (2018). Southeast Asia’s Populism Is Different but Also Dangerous [online]. Council of Foreign Relations. Available at: https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/southeast-asias-populism-different-also-dangerous (Accessed 20 August 2021).
[3] Bryant, o., and Moffitt, B. (2019). What actually is populism? And why does it have a bad reputation? [online]. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-populism-and-why-does-it-have-a-bad-reputation-109874 (Accessed 20 August 2021).
[4] Kenny, Paul D. (2019). “The Enemy of the People”: Populists and Press Freedom. Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 73(2): 261-275
[5] Hamid, U., and Hermawan, A. (2020). Indonesia’s Shrinking Civic Space for Protests and Digital Activism [online]. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Available at: https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/11/17/indonesia-s-shrinking-civic-space-for-protests-and-digital-activism-pub-83250 (Accessed 20 August 2021).
[6] Conde, Carlos H. (2020). Philippine Authorities Go After Media, Online Critics [online]. Human Rights Watch. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/06/philippine-authorities-go-after-media-online-critics (Accessed 20 August 2021).
[7] Buan, L. (2020). Cyber libel over tweeted screenshots a ‘wrong test case’ for internet era – Ressa [online]. Rappler. Available at: https://www.rappler.com/nation/maria-ressa-cybel-libel-charge-over-tweeted-screenshots-wrong-test-case-internet-era (Accessed 20 August 2021).
[8] Story C., and Billing, L. (2020). Duterte’s troll armies drown out COVID-19 dissent in the Philippines [online]. Rappler. Available at: https://www.rappler.com/technology/features/philippine-troll-armies-coda-story (Accessed 20 August 2021).
[9] Florene, U. (2020). Indonesia drafting ministerial regulation to block social media [online]. KrASIA. Available at: https://kr-asia.com/indonesias-goto-to-set-up-oxygen-supply-facility-as-covid-surges (Accessed 20 August 2021).
[10] Haas, J. (2020). Freedom of the Media and Artificial Intelligence. Global Conference for Media Freedom.
