From Street to Screen: Surveillance, Fear, and Digital Protest in Indonesia’s Mass Movements

Abstract

This study investigates the interplay between surveillance, fear, and digital protest within Indonesia’s mass movements, exploring how state and non-state monitoring practices shape the transition from street mobilization to online activism. In recent years, Indonesia has witnessed significant mass protests driven by political, social, and economic grievances, while digital platforms have become central to organizing, documenting, and disseminating protest narratives. Simultaneously, the expansion of digital surveillance—through state security apparatuses, platform governance, and online monitoring—has generated fear among activists and influenced the strategies of political dissent. Using a qualitative case study approach, the research analyzes protest-related social media content, activist testimonies, state communications, and media reports from major Indonesian mass movements to identify patterns of digital resistance and adaptation. The findings reveal that surveillance practices contribute to a climate of fear that affects both offline and online mobilization, prompting activists to adopt encrypted communication, anonymized accounts, and decentralized coordination. Digital protest thus emerges as both a response to and a product of surveillance, where activists negotiate visibility and risk while maintaining collective action. The study also highlights the paradox that increased online visibility can amplify protest messages but simultaneously expose participants to targeted repression. The novelty of this research lies in its integrated analysis of surveillance and digital protest in Indonesia’s contemporary movements, moving beyond studies that treat digital activism and state monitoring as separate phenomena. The contribution to scholarship lies in providing a nuanced framework for understanding how fear and surveillance reshape democratic dissent in digital spaces, emphasizing the role of technology in both enabling and constraining political participation. The study concludes that protecting digital rights, strengthening legal safeguards, and promoting secure communication infrastructures are essential for sustaining democratic protest in Indonesia’s digital era.