Organizer: York University’s Canadian Southeast Asian Studies Initiative (CSEASI); York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR)

Type/Location: Hybrid / Toronto, ON

Description:

This is the inaugural event in the York University’s Canadian Southeast Asian Studies Initiative (CSEASI) Research Colloquium 2025–26. It is co-sponsored by the Department of Politics Communications and Community Committee and YCAR.

Abstract:

The internet’s open, interoperable, and decentralized character has been challenged by governments’ attempts at greater control over the digital infrastructure. Using the case of Indonesia, this talk examines changes to the country’s internet over the past decade, stemming from its deployment of sophisticated technological, legal, and regulatory tools, and explores its impact on dissent, civic discourse, and the pursuit of democratic reform. As governments advocate competing visions of digital governance, an understanding of the dynamics of state control over the internet’s physical and virtual infrastructure is crucial to safeguard the future of free speech and democratic participation.

About the Speakers:

Irene Poetranto earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto, and her dissertation examined how Southeast Asian governments shape, regulate and control the flow of information online. She has a Master's degree in Political Science and Asia Pacific Studies from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of British Columbia. For the past 15 years, she has been a Senior Researcher at The Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary research lab focused on digital technology and human rights, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She leads research on information controls, such as internet censorship and shutdowns, and manages collaborative research initiatives with partners in the Global South. Her research interests include the politics of internet regulation in Southeast Asia, the governance of digital infrastructure, and the geopolitical implications of platform regulation and data sovereignty.

Discussant: Andrea Lachmansingh is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics at York University. Supported by the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, her research examines AI-driven surveillance technologies in Canadian policing and intelligence. Through her framework, Infrastructures of Securitization, she analyzes how commercial data extraction, algorithmic threat construction, and transnational vendor dependencies are reconfiguring data sovereignty and security practices in the RCMP, CSIS and Five Eyes.

Moderator: Ethel Tungohan (Politics, York University)

Registration:

To attend the event in person, please register here.

To attend the event virtually, please register here.