Assessing the Effectiveness of Cybercrime Law Enforcement under Indonesia’s ITE Law: A Normative Legal Analysis

Abstract

This article examines the effectiveness of cybercrime law enforcement under Indonesia’s Electronic Information and Transactions Law, addressing the central question of whether the ITE Law provides a clear, proportional, and rights-sensitive framework for responding to digital offenses. The study uses a normative legal approach to evaluate the role of statutory provisions in regulating unlawful electronic content, false information, threats, unauthorized access, interception, system interference, and electronic data manipulation. The findings show that the ITE Law has an important function in filling legal gaps created by technological development, particularly for technical cybercrimes involving electronic systems and data integrity. However, the analysis also reveals that expression-related offenses, especially online defamation, misinformation, and hate-based hostility, remain vulnerable to broad interpretation and inconsistent enforcement. The article discusses these issues through legal certainty, proportionality, institutional capacity, and protection of digital rights. It concludes that the ITE Law is essential but not fully effective without clearer norms, harmonized regulation, and balanced enforcement.