A ‘data realm’ for the Global South? Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract

This article examines the international and domestic pressures that shape the governance of personal data in the Global South. As developing countries become new terrain for the expansion of US Big Tech and develop their own digital economies, international policy discourses urge the adoption of data governance as self-evidently ‘good policy’ moving into existing regulatory vacuums. However, like any valuable resource, the competition to govern personal data is subject to existing power relations, political interests, institutional pathways and ideologies. With evidence from Indonesia, this article shows how the governance of personal data in the digital economy is influenced by international and national commercial interests, and instrumentalised by domestic state and political elite. In doing so, it adapts the North American ‘information-security complex’ for developing countries with their post-colonial economies, self-interested oligarchic elites and hybrid state-commercial data firms. The significance of this approach lies in its realistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities for supporting data governance reform around the world.

Keywords:

• data governance
• personal data
• Big Tech
• state surveillance
• Global South
• Indonesia

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the following people for sharing their knowledge, insight and time with me: Wahyudi Djafar, Lintang Setianti, Arki Rifazka, Edmon Makarim, Damar Juniarto, Parminder Jeet Singh and several other interviewees who preferred to remain anonymous. I also thank two anonymous reviewers who engaged constructively and usefully with my first draft.

Disclosure statement

I declare no conflicting interests in the publication of this research.

Notes

1 Data can broadly be categorised as personal data, business data and public data. In this article the word ‘data’ mainly refers to personal data.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jacqueline Hicks

Jacqueline Hicks is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at Nottingham University. Her current research lies at the intersection of digital technologies and international political economy, with particular reference to Asia. She has published on the development of the global information economy from the perspective of emerging economies, including on digital ID capitalism, data commons and digital colonialism. With a special interest in Indonesia, she has also analysed the relationship between domestic and international politics and economic power through the topics of corruption, governance and religious authority. In addition to her academic research and teaching, she worked in governance reform and political risk analysis while living in Indonesia, and has provided research for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.