The Evidentiary Crisis in Criminal Defamation in the Digital Space: Between Public Perception and Legal Truth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21093/qj.v10i1.13128Keywords:
Electronic Evidence, Digital Evidence, Defamation, Social Legitimacy, Digital Criminal Law, Social MediaAbstract
This study aims to analyse the evidentiary crisis in criminal defamation within the digital space and examine how the interaction between legal norms, electronic evidence, and public perception affects the determination of legal truth. Employing a normative legal research design enriched with a socio-legal perspective, this study analyses statutory provisions (the 2023 Criminal Code and amended ITE Law), Constitutional Court rulings, and empirical case studies of contemporary viral disputes, particularly the digital defamation conflict in East Aceh and the administrative takedown controversy involving state regulatory bodies. The results show that the digital evidentiary crisis is driven by four interrelated dimensions: the normative ambiguity of legal boundaries, the technical instability and AI-manipulation vulnerability of electronic evidence, the dominance of public perception generating “trial by social media”, and the pre-emption of judicial authority by administrative classifications and platform governance. This research develops the analytical concept of the “digital evidentiary crisis” to illuminate the structural tension between procedural “legal truth” and algorithmically amplified “social truth”. By integrating criminal evidentiary doctrine, platform governance, and socio-legal communication dynamics, this study emphasizes the urgent need for robust electronic evidence authentication standards and adaptive digital co-regulation to preserve the presumption of innocence, due process of law, and freedom of expression in the digital age.
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