A Socio-Legal Analysis of Netizen’s Legal Culture in the Phenomenon of Digital Vigilantism as A Challenge to Cyber Law Enforcement

Abstract

Public trust in formal legal institutions in Indonesia has undergone significant erosion, particularly among digitally active citizens who increasingly turn to social media as an alternative arena for seeking justice. This phenomenon has given rise to the practice of digital vigilantism, defined as the collective and self-appointed conduct of netizens who independently investigate, judge, and socially punish individuals perceived to have violated norms in digital spaces, entirely outside the bounds of legitimate legal processes. While such practices reflect a societal response to systemic failures within the justice system, their implications for legal certainty and the protection of human rights remain insufficiently examined from a socio-legal standpoint. This study aims to analyze the structural factors that drive digital vigilantism as a preferred recourse among digital citizens and to identify the juridical and sociological implications of netizen legal culture for the principles of legal certainty and human rights protection in digital society. Employing a socio-legal research approach grounded in legal culture and legal effectiveness frameworks, this study draws on doctrinal analysis of cyber regulations, judicial decisions, and relevant sociological literature. The findings reveal that structural distrust in formal legal institutions, compounded by the pervasive accessibility of digital technologies, has fostered the emergence of an alternative legal culture that fundamentally threatens the presumption of innocence and the principle of due process of law. This study proposes a reconstruction of digital legal legitimacy through a measurable, citizen reporting-based model of participatory justice as a viable framework for integrating civic engagement without compromising foundational legal guarantees.