Digital Piety and Algorithmic Religious Authority: A Comparative Digital Study of Online Da’wah in Indonesia and Pakistan

The rapid expansion of digital platforms has transformed how Islamic religious authority is produced, circulated, and recognized. This study examines how Muslim youth in Indonesia and Pakistan engage with online da'wah on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, asking how algorithmic visibility, emotional communication, and platform-based engagement shape perceptions of religious credibility. Using a qualitative comparative design, it combines digital ethnography with content analysis of 180 publicly available da'wah materials (90 per country), thematically coded for authority claims, emotional strategies, visual presentation, audience engagement, and religious moderation discourse. Findings show that online da'wah fosters personalized learning, wider accessibility, and new modes of participation, while also producing fragmented knowledge transmission, uncertainty about scholarly credentials, and growing algorithmic influence over perceived authority. Although both countries share platform dynamics, da'wah interacts differently with their distinct histories of Islamic authority. The study advances the concept of algorithmic religious authority, contributing a comparative perspective to digital religion scholarship.