Ludic cybermilitias: shadow play and computational propaganda in the Indonesian predatory state

Abstract This article ties the studies of computational propaganda to studies of the state in the Global South by examining “political buzzers”—actors of Indonesian computational propaganda. Rather than an extension of state propaganda, I argue that buzzers are a “twilight institution” straddling the boundaries between state and society. As cybermilitias, they are rooted in the historical conjuncture of Indonesian state practices in deploying privatized violence for extractive capitalist accumulation, exhibited by two cases in this article: the reclamation of Benoa Bay in Bali and the Ciliwung forced evictions in Jakarta. Informed by ethnographic fieldwork, I delve into buzzers’ experience of computational propaganda as an avenue for political agency. They conceive their clandestine labor into a play, conjuring the political metaphor of dalang (master puppeteers) pulling strings from behind the scenes. These shadow play theatrics constitute the ludic aspect of buzzers as ludic cybermilitias. By exploring how computational propaganda is shaped by and shapes state power in Indonesia, I problematize the notion that political buzzers signify “democratic regression” or “digital authoritarianism.” Instead, I propose that buzzers represent the latest manifestation of privatized violence within the predatory logic of post-authoritarian states in the Global South.