<![CDATA[Bau Nyale is a Sasak cultural tradition that intertwines the legend of Princess Mandalika, the ritual of catching sea worms, communal gatherings, performing arts, and tourism destination management. The expansion of social media has transformed this tradition from an event primarily experienced through physical presence into a cultural phenomenon that is continuously produced, selected, circulated, and contested through images, short videos, hashtags, comments, live streams, and institutional publications. This study aims to analyze the representation of Bau Nyale on social media, its relationship with Sasak communal spaces, and the negotiation of cultural authority among customary communities, government agencies, tourism area managers, economic actors, content creators, and visitors. The research employs exploratory digital ethnography through non-participant observation of publicly accessible digital traces and documentation of Bau Nyale, particularly materials circulated during the 2024–2025 period. Data were analyzed using thematic coding, multimodal reading, and triangulation with journal articles. The findings reveal six main patterns: the condensation of Bau Nyale's meanings into the icon of Princess Mandalika and coastal scenery; the transformation of ritual into a tourism-festival spectacle; the formation of participatory cultural memory through hashtags and user-generated content; the hybridization of online and offline communal spaces; contestation over interpretive authority; and the emergence of risks such as simplification, commodification, and the obscuring of ecological dimensions. Social media not only promotes Bau Nyale but also participates in shaping how the tradition is understood, felt, and exchanged. Therefore, cultural communication governance should position Sasak communities as primary subjects, strengthen community-based documentation, elaborate ritual and ecological dimensions, and develop digital curation that goes beyond the pursuit of algorithmic visibility]]>
