A/Prof. Aim Sinpeng1
1University Of Sydney, Australia
Biography:
Aim Sinpeng is Associate Professor in Comparative Politics and an ARC DECRA Fellow in the Discipline of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. Her teaching and research focus on the nexus between tech and politics, particularly in Southeast Asia. She is the author of the award-winning book, Opposing Democracy in the Digital Age: the Yellow Shirts in Thailand (University of Michigan Press, 2020) and has recently been named 70 Year, 70 People that Matter to Australia-Thailand relations by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She currently leads projects funded by Google and Meta examining mis/disinformation and algorithmic bias in Southeast Asia. She currently serves as the Senior Advisor to the Freedom House.
Abstract:
Cyber authoritarianism is on the rise worldwide, with governments increasingly deploying innovative strategies to monitor, surveil, censor, and persecute critics, activists, and journalists. Southeast Asia presents a particularly hostile environment for online journalism, where governments frequently investigate, arrest, and convict individuals for their online activities. The region also ranks among the most dangerous places globally for journalists. This study explores how digital news organisations navigate and sustain their operations within such a repressive environment. Drawing on original survey and interview data from 52 digital news organisations in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, collected through the 2021-22 Inflection Point International project on digital media entrepreneurship, the study reveals that these organisations continue to report and investigate politically and socially sensitive issues despite significant risks of state repression. Their efforts are driven by a commitment to serving the public good and fostering civic engagement. Notably, investigating sensitive topics did not always compromise profitability for some organisations. However, most practitioners reported frequent self-censorship and a pervasive sense of being under constant state surveillance. These findings underscore the resilience of digital news organisations while highlighting the critical implications for press freedom, the sustainability of independent journalism, and the broader fight for democratic accountability in authoritarian regimes.