INTRODUCTION

Southeast Asians with Internet access are ranked as some of the world's most ubiquitous users of social media platforms. Yet, it is true that in Southeast Asia as elsewhere, scholars, analysts and governments are still trying to understand how “the informational underpinning of democracy have eroded”. In this article, I assess the kinds of information society that are emerging in the digital public sphere in Southeast Asia. To comprehend social media's impact, we need to think more about the different ways through which citizens access the Internet, and the circumstances under which they engage with certain social media platforms. We also need to understand the historical and cultural backgrounds that shaped the way digitalization has entered the existing public sphere. Finally, we need to take note of the political context and reasons for the spread of digital media material. I examine these three aspects of social media adoption in three Southeast Asian countries—Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

SOUTHEAST ASIA's SHIFTING INFORMATION SOCIETY

There are some common mistakes that analysts make when writing about social media usage in Southeast Asia. The first mistake is overstating Internet access in the region. We often think of the “digital divide” as a clear distinction between those who have access to the Internet and those who have no access at all. In this frame, surveys show that some 64 per cent of Indonesians, 65 per cent of Filipinos and 75 per cent of Malaysians have regular access to the Internet. But these statistics are often beset with erroneous conclusions––for example, many citizens answer “yes” to having Facebook, but “no” to having Internet access when answering professional surveys. Some digital surveys, such as WeAreSocial, often only collect information on people who have Internet access. Others, such as AC Nielson, only examine responses from citizens in large cities where Internet signals are strong and where wealth is greater. These surveys only scratch the surface of the vast disparity in how Southeast Asians access the Internet. As Elizabeth Pisani wrote: “Millions of Indonesians are on US$2 a day and are on Facebook.” So the number could be skewed but more importantly, these percentages do not tell us the disparity within Internet usage. The millions of Southeast Asians “on the digital divide”, who have minimal access to the Internet, are generally understudied.