ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship TECH COMPANIES COMPLICIT OF DIGITAL DICTATORSHIP: THE CASE OF TELEGRAM IN INDONESIA Regarding Telegram specifically, the government imposed a temporary prohibition on the messaging application in 2018 on the grounds that it facilitated communication between terrorists. Following Telegram’s commitment to enhance content moderation and establish a representative office in Indonesia, the prohibition was lifted. According to a report by Nava Nuraniyah (2017), the underlying rationale for the blockade was not to suppress extremism, as the statement asserts. On July 17, three days subsequent to the prohibition, Durov, the CEO of Telegram, issued a statement wherein he admitted to his delayed reaction to the government’s appeals to obstruct certain extremist channels and pledged to enhance collaboration with the government by means of establishing a “direct line of communication.” However, it was not sufficient. To further compel the lifting of the prohibition, the government has now mandated that Telegram establish a local office in Indonesia, akin to the operations of Google, Yahoo, and Facebook. The level of concession that Telegram will offer is yet to be determined. Eliminating Telegram access is, at best, a strategic manoeuvre employed to align the operations of tech behemoths with governmental regulations.124 PANDEMIC POLITICS: COVID-19 IMPACT ON ONLINE ACTIVITIES The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed authorities to The pandemic allowed authorities to limit freedom constrict civic space in the country and freedom of of speech excessively in the country. In 2020, a expression was limited excessively. Social media university professor said that hackers released users who criticised the government’s handling images of him and a woman they claimed to be his of COVID-19 have been charged under ITE Law mistress on his Twitter page after he criticised the for allegedly spreading disinformation about the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.127 COVID-19 pandemic. In the two-year window between Several other organisations alleged that hackers January 2020 and 2022, authorities have opened erased content from their websites, while media investigation into and prosecuted 767 pandemic- outlets and civil society organisations, including related disinformation cases.125 Police order No. Tempo, Tirto.id, and the Centre for Indonesia’s ST/1100/IV/HUK.7.1.2020 came into force in April Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI), were 2020, giving police emergency powers to conduct hacked after posting articles criticising the pandemic “cyber patrols” and monitor online discussions management.128 In another Article 28(2) case, Wira around COVID-19, the government’s handling of it, Pratama, a resident of Riau Islands off the coast and any other information surrounding this topic.126 of Sumatra, was prosecuted for uploading on his personal Facebook account a meme of President 98 Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia