Addressing Digital Religious Polarization: Policy Analysis of Religious Moderation Narratives on Indonesian Government Social Media

The growing digital religious polarization in Indonesia, particularly on social media, poses a serious challenge to efforts in strengthening social cohesion within the framework of nationalistic values and preserving inclusive religious principles. Although the government has initiated various measures to respond to this phenomenon, the effectiveness of officially delivered religious moderation narratives remains underexplored in a critical and in-depth manner. This article explores the digital communication strategies employed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) and the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) in conveying religious moderation messages through social media. The study adopts a qualitative approach by combining content analysis of institutional social media accounts, document reviews, and in-depth interviews with content managers and religious communication experts. The findings reveal that the prevailing top-down and informative communication approach tends to limit meaningful public engagement, especially among youth and already-polarized audience groups. This study underscores the importance of developing a more dialogical, participatory, and contextual communication model that aligns with the characteristics of contemporary digital spaces. These findings offer strategic recommendations for policymakers in designing more adaptive, relevant, and responsive religious communication approaches in the face of the ever-evolving digital ecosystem.