Depok, August 9th 2023. Internet regulation in a democratic society has significance in maintaining the continuity of a democratic public sphere. However, in practice, the regulation of the internet in a country often becomes an arena of dynamic contestation involving the government, legislatures, political parties, business institutions, media and civil society. From the tug-of-war process between the various parties, the resulting legislation has the potential to become a vehicle for criminalizing and silencing freedom of expression.
This was conveyed by Devi Tri Indriasari when presenting her dissertation entitled “Freedom of Expression under Regulatory Pressure: A Study of the Information and Electronic Transaction Law (UU ITE)” at an open doctoral promotion session held by the Postgraduate Program in Communication Studies, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) Universitas Indonesia (UI). Devi’s research aimed to examine three propositions related to internet regulations in Indonesia and the implementation of the Information and Electronic Transaction Law (UU ITE).
From the research conducted by Devi, several conclusions were obtained, including that there was insufficient evidence to explain the background for the inclusion of a number of problematic articles into the ITE Law in 2008. The government and the House of Representatives (DPR) originally prepared the ITE Bill to regulate electronic and pornographic business transactions. which was getting increasingly popular. However, at the last moment, articles containing an authoritarian spirit were included.
Furthermore, after the law was passed and implemented, Devi said that there was also no evidence showing that both the (central) government and the DPR used these articles for their own interests. In many cases, those who use the ITE Law are fellow citizens, companies, religious groups, and religious leaders.
The next finding is that since the birth of the ITE Law, various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and academics have actively criticized the birth of the ITE Law and its articles. Civil society from the start has been able to predict the dangers of problematic articles in the law.
Then, in this study, it was found that the government’s attitude was slowly changing. If in 2016, the government considered that the ITE Law did not contain substantial weaknesses that undermine democracy, the government’s perspective changed in 2021. Lastly, Devi found that what seems to have not changed is the DPR. There are many political parties within the DPR who have different attitudes, however, there is no sign that the DPR will follow the government’s steps to rewrite the ITE Law.
