Digital Discourses

Donny B.U. is the co-founder of ICT Watch, an Indonesian CSO whose goal is to lay the foundations for the safe and responsible use of the internet through its national campaign initiative Internet Sehat. In 2012, he was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship for his focus on freedom of expression online, cyber activism, and citizen journalism. In addition to his engagement in ICT Watch, Donny is one of the founders of the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFENet) and the Indonesian Internet Governance Forum. He now is serving as Expert Staff to the Indonesian Minister of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) for Digital Literacy and Internet Governance and still teaches from time to time at leading universities in Indonesia.

Kirsten Han is a Singaporean freelance journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of New Naratif, a platform for Southeast Asian journalism, research, art and community-building. Her work often revolves around the themes of social justice, human rights, politics and democracy. In 2019, she was awarded a Human Rights Press Award for her commentaries on the issue of “fake news” and freedom of expression in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Her essay The Silhouette of Oppression was published by Epigram Books in 2019.

Markus Reuter is an editor at netzpolitik.org and is concerned with fundamental and civil rights as well as social movements. Among other topics, he writes about hate speech and censorship, fake news and social bots; in the framework of this topic area he has been invited twice as an expert to the German Parliament. Other focus areas include the transformation of culture and media, right-wing radical strategies in the internet, and the use of social media by governmental institutions, such as the police.

Nasir Abas is a public figure in Indonesia who was actively involved in various extremist Islamic groups from 1987 to 2003, at which time he became a partner of Detachment 88, an anti-terror unit of the Indonesian National Police. Nasir is also a resource person for the Government Anti-Terror Body (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Terorisme—BNPT), whose purpose is to counter violent extremism in the population. He is also involved in government programs that focus on de-radicalization.

Saijai Liangpunsakul is a social impact director at Phandeeyar, Myanmar Innovation Lab, leading Tech for Peace, hate speech research, and open data work. She is spearheading the effort to leverage technology and open data to support free and fair elections in Myanmar.

Patrick Stegemann is a German journalist and filmmaker. For years he has been investigating the far-right in Germany and its online strategies. His film Lösch Dich about online hate cultures has won several prizes. He works for German public television as a reporter, journalist and format developer. His work focuses on digital communication, the far-right and the digital economy. Stegemann’s first book, co-authored with his colleague Sören Musyal, will be published in early 2020. Die rechte Mobilmachung - Wie rechte Aktivisten im Netz die Demokratie bedrohen (Ullstein/Econ) is an investigation into and analysis of far-right online strategies.

The anonymity, speed, and efficiency of online communication has made it an invaluable tool for finding like-minded people, exchanging ideas, and coordinating activities. These tools can be used by marginalized people to find support among peers. Similarly, they can be used by extremist groups to spread ideology, recruit new members, and, in the worst case, to coordinate attacks.

Not all conversation online can be clearly labelled as harmless or harmful. There are varieties of bullying, persuasion, and provocation where it is extremely difficult to draw the line. Indonesia, for instance, has an umbrella term for all forms of communication it deems undesirable: “negative content”. It encompasses all forms of nudity, which for most European countries is considered benign. In countries like Thailand or Singapore, it is certain political discussions that may be taboo.