No Viral No Justice: Cybersecurity and Threats to the Integrity of Law Enforcement in Indonesia

This study examines the “No Viral No Justice” phenomenon as a manifestation of a legal legitimacy crisis in Indonesia’s digital era. The phenomenon reflects how public pressure shaped by social media influences the professionalism of law enforcement officers, the principle of equality before the law, and the broader impacts on social stability and national cybersecurity. The research employs a normative juridical method with legislative, historical, and comparative approaches. Analysis focuses on legal instruments such as the Criminal Procedure Code, Law No. 2 of 2002 on the National Police, and the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE), complemented by case studies of law enforcement practices affected by virality. The theoretical framework draws upon Nonet and Selznick’s responsive law theory, John Rawls’s theory of justice, and Jürgen Habermas’s concept of the public sphere. The findings reveal a paradigm shift in law enforcement toward a reactive form of justice that relies heavily on digital opinion. This condition generates bias toward viral cases, unequal access to justice, and the spread of legal misinformation, all of which undermine public trust and threaten national digital security. Weak digital capacity among law enforcement officers and low public legal literacy further exacerbate the legitimacy crisis. This study offers a new theoretical construct on the relationship between digital media, legal legitimacy, and national security, providing a reform framework that is adaptive, transparent, and substantively just amid the wave of digital populism