In the Era of Algorithms, Bali Faces Sacred and Digital Boundary Challenges to Preserve 'Taksu'

The clamour of the digital world often clashes harshly with the silence of sacred spaces. Amidst the celebration of National Social Media Day, Bali faces a major paradox in maintaining the sanctity (taksu) of its culture when every ritual corner is now demanded to be friendly to global algorithms. This complex challenge was highlighted in an interview with the Regional Coordinator of the Indonesian Cyber Media Association (AMSI) for Bali-Nusa Tenggara (Nusra), I Nengah Muliarta, in Denpasar. According to Muliarta, social media has radically altered Bali’s sociological landscape. Visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok have indeed succeeded in accelerating the creative economy and cutting through information bureaucracy. However, there is a high price to pay when the boundary between the mundane and the sacred starts to blur in pursuit of digital indicators such as views, likes, and interactions. Muliarta noted a worrying shift in orientation, where cultural documentation that once served as educational media and an archive is now experiencing a narrowing of meaning. Formerly, cultural documentation functioned as a medium for education and archiving. Today, in the name of algorithm demands that favour instant and aesthetic content, religious rituals are often reduced to mere visual commodities. Muliarta, a former VOA journalist, assesses that this occurs because social media algorithms are designed to respond to high audience engagement. This characteristic drives content creators, both tourists and locals, to continually seek the most exotic angles, even if it means violating areas that should be completely sterile from cameras. As a result, taksu, or the magical spiritual power born from the sincerity and silence of rituals, is slowly being eroded by the noise of interactions in comment sections. Social media penetration not only touches the spiritual realm but also revolutionises Bali’s most fundamental social institution, the banjar. The presence of digital banjars via instant messaging groups has increased the efficiency of customary coordination, although this efficiency brings the logical consequence of social vulnerability. The speed of information distribution on social media is often not matched by rigorous verification mechanisms. When customary issues or misunderstandings among residents arise, digitalisation can cause the narrative to spread and escalate beyond the control of customary officials. If not anticipated, the digital space could become an igniter of polarisation that damages the social cohesion that has been maintained by the physical banjar system. Facing these challenges, Muliarta stressed that the required solution can no longer be just normative appeals, but rather a systemic innovation that combines customary regulation with technology. The Customary Village Council (MDA), together with policymakers, needs to formulate a codified guide regarding cyber space boundaries in cultural activities, including a strict mapping of rituals that may be published for tourism and those that are entirely private. Noble concepts such as Tri Hita Karana and Tat Twam Asi must be integrated as the foundation of local digital literacy, so that digital competence does not only revolve around technical skills but also the development of netizen morality. Muliarta also reminded the mainstream cyber media of its important role in standing firm as a clarifier of information amidst the murky social media narratives. When the local digital space is filled with confusion for the sake of algorithms, quality journalism must be present to provide confirmation, depth, and verified facts. Preserving Bali’s taksu in the digital age does not mean we must close ourselves off from technology. On the contrary, it is about how we dictate to the algorithm so that it works for the preservation of our culture, rather than our culture being dictated to and altered to satisfy the algorithm’s desires, Muliarta concluded.