Digital Platform Liability in Electoral Disinformation Dissemination: A Comparative Analysis of Indonesian and European Union Law

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-529-4_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Comparative Law; Democratic Governance; Digital Services Act; Electoral Disinformation; Platform Liability

Abstract

Electoral disinformation is increasingly recognized as a serious threat to democratic governance worldwide. Data from the International Telecommunication Union indicate that more than 4.6 billion people actively use digital platforms, amplifying the reach and impact of false information during electoral cycles. Yet comparative legal analyses of platform liability frameworks remain scarce, particularly in emerging democracies such as Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy and the fastest-growing digital economy in Southeast Asia. This research employs a mixed-methods approach integrating: (1) doctrinal legal analysis of regulatory frameworks in Indonesia and the European Union, (2) quantitative content analysis of digital platform responses during the 2024 elections (n = X posts across X platforms), and (3) qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) across the two jurisdictions. Platform compliance is operationally defined as the percentage of valid disinformation reports actioned within 24 hours, while moderation efficiency refers to the ratio of valid takedowns to total reports. It tests three hypotheses: that Indonesia’s user-centric liability model is associated with greater proliferation of electoral disinformation; that the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) improves content moderation efficiency without significantly restricting free expression; and that hybrid liability regimes provide optimal regulatory pathways for emerging democracies. The findings demonstrate that Indonesia’s fragmented regulatory framework results in limited platform compliance (approximately 15%) during electoral periods, whereas the EU’s DSA achieves up to 85% efficiency in moderating election-related content. The research makes two original contributions. First, it advances the concept of Digital Democratic Stewardship, a regulatory paradigm positioning platforms as co-guardians of electoral integrity with due diligence obligations rather than neutral conduits. Second, it proposes the Digital Democracy Resilience Framework, an evidence-based, scalable policy model integrating legislative templates, implementation pathways, and measurable performance indicators, features not previously articulated in comparative legal scholarship. Beyond Indonesia, the framework offers transferable policy solutions for emerging democracies worldwide facing similar digital governance challenges, providing evidence-based strategies to strengthen democratic resilience in the digital age.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - I Wayan Sudira
AU  - Sunny Ummul Firdaus
AU  - Andina Elok Puri Maharani
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/28
TI  - Digital Platform Liability in Electoral Disinformation Dissemination: A Comparative Analysis of Indonesian and European Union Law
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Democracy and National Resilience 2025 (ICDNR 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 31
EP  - 41
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-529-4_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-529-4_4
ID  - Sudira2025
ER  -