The existence of the internet not only has positive impacts, but also has negative impacts, one of which is the rampant hate speech that is spread through social media. The government then issued Law No. 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions as amended by Law No. 19 of 2016, which regulates the criminalization of hate speech conducted via electronic media. Nonetheless, even though there have been criminal threats against acts of hate speech through cyberspace, the number of cases of hate speech that are handled by the police has actually increased from year to year. The purpose of this paper is to find out how the influence of social changes in the criminalization of hate speech through electronic media and the effectiveness of criminalization of hate speech through electronic media as an effort to tackle the rise of hate speech in cyberspace. This research uses normative legal research method. The results of this study explain that social changes related to the way of sharing information via electronic media have a real impact on applicable law in Indonesia with the existence of regulations regarding the criminalization of hate speech through electronic media. However, since the enactment of this regulation, the number of acts of hate speech through electronic media has increased from year to year. Therefore, the criminalization policy must pay attention to the principle of subsidiarity, meaning that criminal law must be placed as a last resort in overcoming crimes using a penal instrument, not as the main effort. Other efforts are needed that should be prioritized apart from punishing the perpetrators of criminal acts.