Mery Christian Putri, Associate Expert to a Constitutional Justice and Intermediate Constitutional Law Analyst at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI), presents the contents of the book Contracts in the Digital Economy Era: A Juridical and Practical Review. Photo: MKRI/Fauzan

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JAKARTA, MKRI – The Constitutional Court’s Center for Research, Case Analysis, and Library Management (Puslitka MK), in collaboration with PT RajaGrafindo Persada and EduLaw Project, once again held a Constitutional Literacy Discussion (DIKSI) on Wednesday (May 20, 2026). The event was conducted both in person at the Constitutional Court Library and online via Zoom Meeting.

The twelfth edition of DIKSI explored legal challenges and technological developments in the digital era through a discussion of the books Contracts in the Digital Economy Era: A Juridical and Practical Review and Big Data: Challenges, Threats, and Opportunities. The speakers were Mery Christian Putri, Associate Expert to a Constitutional Justice and Intermediate Constitutional Law Analyst at the Constitutional Court, and Ardiansyah Salim, Head of the Subdivision for Accounting and State Asset Reporting at the Constitutional Court.

Presenting her book Contracts in the Digital Economy Era: A Juridical and Practical Review, Mery Christian Putri explained that discussions on the digital economy cannot be separated from the concept of disruption. She outlined the concept of the 6Ds of disruption in the digital economy era.

The first is democratization, whereby broader access enables the digital economy to be accessed by anyone, anytime, and anywhere. The second is digitalization itself, which allows physical activities to be transformed into digital processes. Whereas contracts previously required face-to-face meetings among the parties involved, digitalization now enables agreements to be concluded from virtually any location and at any time.

The third disruption is disintermediation, in which intermediaries become unnecessary, allowing transactions and agreements to be conducted directly between parties through digital platforms. The fourth is demonetization, whereby costs previously incurred in forming agreements are significantly reduced or even eliminated through digital economic systems. The fifth is deceptive growth, referring to innovations that initially appear insignificant but rapidly emerge and expand. The sixth is dematerialization, characterized by the disappearance of physical devices as functions become integrated into virtual interfaces.

Mery noted that her research, which later developed into the book, revealed a substantial increase in the use of financial technology (fintech), extending beyond e-banking to include online marketplaces and various other digital services.

“Even people living in Papua may now be using financial technology itself,” Mery remarked.

She further observed that fintech applications continue to expand, including online lending platforms, e-money and e-wallet services for public transportation and toll payments, as well as smart contracts.

According to Mery, the essential elements of smart contracts in the digital era consist of three components: naturalia, essentialia, and accidentalia. Naturalia refers to provisions already regulated by law and therefore implicitly incorporated into contracts. Essentialia constitutes the core elements that must exist for a contract to be valid and binding upon the parties. Meanwhile, accidentalia encompasses additional provisions agreed upon by the parties, such as mechanisms for resolving future disputes.

Mery emphasized that all agreements, whether digital or conventional, must adhere to established legal principles.

“Every agreement, whether executed on paper or digitally, should be based on principles of propriety, fairness, and reasonableness,” she explained.

She also noted that, in the digital era, people are often required to accept standardized terms and conditions without fully understanding them. For this reason, she encouraged the public to carefully review contractual provisions before giving their consent.

Regarding the government’s role in supporting the digital economy, Mery highlighted the importance of providing secure digital infrastructure, ensuring fair and equitable access to fintech services to prevent a digital divide, maintaining financial stability by mitigating systemic cyber risks, and developing responsive legal frameworks capable of accommodating technological and social developments.

The Big Data Phenomenon

In the second presentation, Ardiansyah Salim, author of Big Data: Challenges, Threats, and Opportunities, discussed the growing phenomenon of big data in contemporary society. He highlighted the tendency of social media users to become increasingly engaged with content generated through algorithm-driven systems, resulting in an explosion of data generation.

Ardiansyah described data as the “new oil,” arguing that those who control data wield significant influence. He noted that several of the world’s wealthiest individuals operate companies centered on data, including Meta, Amazon, and Google, which possess vast amounts of consumer information.

With access to consumer preference data, these companies can identify users’ political preferences, favorite films, age groups, preferred music genres, and many other characteristics. As a result, users are continuously exposed to products and content aligned with their interests. Such data, he explained, can reveal social, economic, and political preferences on a large scale.

Ardiansyah emphasized that data encompasses not only numerical information but also images, videos, audio recordings, and various other forms of information. He explained that big data is characterized by the 3Vs: volume, velocity, and variety.

Volume refers to the massive quantities of data generated and stored. Velocity concerns the speed at which data is produced and processed in real time, requiring sophisticated storage and processing capabilities. Variety reflects the diversity of data types, which enhances the quality and comprehensiveness of information generated from analysis.

As an example, Ardiansyah referred to artificial intelligence applications such as ChatGPT, noting that more detailed prompts generally produce more detailed outputs.

He further explained that big data plays a strategic role in decision-making processes, fosters innovation, improves operational efficiency, and generates valuable customer insights that help organizations understand evolving consumer behavior.

At the same time, he acknowledged the risks associated with big data. In terms of privacy and security, big data may contribute to privacy violations and cyber threats capable of causing large-scale data breaches. Other concerns include algorithmic bias and information manipulation, whereby algorithms may be designed to serve particular interests, making certain information more difficult to access and facilitating the spread of misleading content.

Ardiansyah encouraged participants to critically evaluate information and remain aware of potential data manipulation.

He also noted that current personal data protection frameworks largely draw upon the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applied within the European Union.

“You have the right not to provide your personal data to anyone,” Ardiansyah stated.

Big Data and AI Ethics

Ardiansyah further explained that ethical principles governing big data include transparency, accountability, and fairness. Nevertheless, there have been instances in which big data has been used in ways that violate these principles. As an example, he referred to allegations involving the use of data by Meta in electoral contexts to benefit particular candidates, which ultimately resulted in sanctions.

He described big data as the primary fuel driving the advancement of artificial intelligence. As the volume of available data continues to grow, it has also accelerated the development of cloud computing technologies.

In closing, Ardiansyah warned about the emergence of platform monopolies, in which large corporations dominate both data resources and algorithmic systems. He also highlighted the risk of technological inequality, which may create disparities in digital access and literacy across regions, and stressed the importance of ensuring that artificial intelligence remains ethical, neutral, and free from discrimination.

Author             : Ilham Wiryadi Muhammad

Editor              : N. Rosi

Translator        : Nies Lindy

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version prevails.

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