A Fused Resistance against State-Sponsored Hacking in Indonesia during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Digital authoritarian practices are on the rise as surveillance technology industries continue to proliferate. Hacking civil society members’ digital and social media platforms has become the most recent phenomenon demonstrating attempts to oppress activists and dissenters. In the Global South, the COVID-19 pandemic has reportedly opened more doors for governments to potentially abuse the power to govern the Internet and online spheres. This article demonstrates a fusion of individual and collective resistance that activists perform in response to the state’s attempt to silence critiques by hacking digital and social media platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Individual resistance manifests in the activists’ self-determination to continue the actions they believe will improve society. Collective resistance appears in the emergence of coalitions comprised of different entities sharing a common goal to fight back authoritarian practices.

Keywords: resistance, state-sponsored hacking, digital authoritarianism, COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia