August 15, 2025 | 08:25 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Amnesty International Indonesia reported that 758 civilians have been criminalized under the vague provisions of the Information and Electronic Transactions Law (ITE Law) between January 2018 and July 2025.
These individuals were charged with hate speech and defamation in 710 criminal cases.
"In today's state address, the President spoke about the need for correction, oversight, and criticism, and urged non-government parties not to stop criticizing. In reality, many people are still being criminalized simply for speaking critically," said Usman Hamid, Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, in a press release on Friday, August 15, 2025.
Of the 758 civilians, Amnesty recorded that 634 have been sentenced at the District Court level, while the rest are still undergoing legal processes at the court or investigation stage. Usman said the victims of the ITE Law are spread across 38 provinces.
The highest number is in East Java with 79 victims, followed by Jakarta with 67, North Sumatra with 59, South Sulawesi with 52, and West Java with 47. "There is no area free from criminalization cases," he said.
Usman stressed that the initiative to prosecute hundreds of people under vague ITE Law articles often comes from Police Cyber Patrol.
Their records show that Police Cyber Patrol has processed the cases of 347 people, while the rest were made suspects following reports from the government, the TNI, social organizations, and private companies on allegations of defamation and insult.
According to Usman, three ITE Law articles are most frequently used to prosecute freedom of expression: Article 27 Paragraph (1) on morality, Article 27A on prohibitions against attacking the honor or good name of others, and Article 28 Paragraph (2) on hate speech.
"We are also seeing a disturbing trend where individuals who had previously served ITE sentences are prosecuted again under the same law simply for expressing criticism," he said.
He cited the case of a resident of Keerom Regency, Papua, who criticized alleged misappropriation of School Operational Assistance (BOS) funds at a local high school on social media.
The person was arrested on July 8, 2025, despite having been sentenced in 2019 to seven months in prison by the Jayapura District Court for defamation against a Papua gubernatorial candidate.
"If the president says in today's state address that criticism should not stop, the authorities should follow this by ending repression and criminalization of people who voice criticism, and releasing those charged with defamation and sedition simply for peaceful expression," Usman said.
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