<![CDATA[Digital transformation has expanded the local information ecosystem by enabling platform-native actors to distribute news without the institutional infrastructure normally associated with professional journalism. This study addresses a research gap concerning how such actors create competitive pressure through unequal cost structures, algorithmic visibility, and uneven accountability. The study aims to explain how these asymmetries interact in Indonesia. A critical qualitative case-study design was used through semi-structured interviews, text interviews, digital observation, documentary analysis, and literature review. The findings identify three mutually reinforcing structural asymmetries: burden asymmetry, speed and hook asymmetry, and legitimacy asymmetry. Low operating costs facilitate rapid publication; rapid and emotionally framed content increases the opportunity for algorithmic visibility; and high visibility can develop into social legitimacy even when institutional accountability remains limited. The study proposes the Three Structural Asymmetries as an analytical synthesis and argues that the central issue is not the existence of non-institutional media itself, but the unequal distribution of economic and accountability burdens. Policy implications include regulatory equity, structural support for public-interest journalism, and algorithmic media literacy.]]>
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