Reconstruction of Digital Constitutionalism in the Indonesian Constitutional System: Protection of Citizens’ Constitutional Rights in the Era of Digital Platform Domination

Abstract

This study aims to reconstruct digital constitutionalism within the Indonesian constitutional system in response to the increasing dominance of digital platforms over citizens’ constitutional rights. The study addresses the problem that freedom of expression, privacy, equality, access to information, democratic participation, and procedural fairness are increasingly exercised within privately governed digital infrastructures. This research uses a qualitative legal method with a normative-juridical approach. It applies statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches by examining the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, human rights law, electronic information regulation, personal data protection law, relevant policy documents, and recent scholarly literature on digital constitutionalism, platform governance, and algorithmic accountability. The findings show that Indonesia’s digital legal framework remains fragmented and has not yet formed an integrated constitutional architecture for protecting citizens from both state power and private digital platform power. Digital platforms have acquired constitutional significance because they regulate speech, data, visibility, access, and participation through content moderation, algorithmic systems, and data-driven governance. This study proposes a hybrid model of digital constitutionalism that connects constitutional rights, state obligations, platform responsibilities, algorithmic accountability, due process, and effective remedies. The contribution of this study lies in placing the Indonesian Constitution at the centre of digital rights protection and offering a rights-based framework for governing platform power in Indonesia’s democratic constitutional order.