Disinformation about recent anti-government protests in Indonesia has inundated social media in what researchers say is a coordinated attempt to spread propaganda about the one-year-old movement.
AFP fact-checkers have debunked dozens of posts about student-led demonstrations this summer on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, including old footage of huge crowds and burning buildings shared alongside false claims that local media are ignoring widespread chaos.
Rallies last week in the capital Jakarta over worsening economic conditions and the government’s handling of corruption did devolve into clashes with police, but the violence shown online was far worse than the reality on the ground – and activists say rumours are hurting their cause.
“Hoaxes can influence whether someone decides to join a protest or not,” said Namora Siahaan, a member of the University of Indonesia Student Executive Board, a group behind similar rallies.
Namora cited the spread of false information about protest locations and student arrests, which he said are “likely intended to spread fear and discourage civilians from taking part in the demonstrations”.
Police said they had detained hundreds of people in connection with last week’s march on parliament, including 65 on suspicion of being “provocateurs”.
Supriyono, another protest coordinator, said he was concerned the unrest could have been deliberately provoked.
Last month authorities detained nine people and seized 10 social media accounts for allegedly spreading disinformation about possible riots, though they did not disclose who was behind it.
“The motives vary, including financial gain,” said Iman Imanuddin, criminal investigation director for the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, during an Aug 7 press conference.
“Some suspects received orders or payment from other parties to produce and distribute the content,” he added, about one week after calling the operation an “organised digital propaganda syndicate”.
The campaigns come one year after protests over lavish perks for lawmakers spiralled into general anti-government anger – Indonesia’s biggest unrest since President Prabowo Subianto took office in 2024.
Ika Idris, an associate professor at Monash University Indonesia, separately analysed nearly 35,000 posts on X in late July and found almost all of them came from accounts that “showed patterns that would have been almost impossible to carry out manually”.
Ika also saw a spike in rumours ahead of last week’s anti-graft protest in Jakarta that the event had been cancelled.
“There was clearly an attempt to amplify it,” she said. — AFP
