Indonesian Authorities Using Online Disinformation Campaigns to Target ...
Amnesty said the campaign has targeted journalists, activists and academics for 18 months and has sometimes preceded violent attacks.
- On Tuesday, Amnesty International released a report titled "Building Up Imaginary Enemies" documenting how Indonesian authorities and the military deploy coordinated online disinformation campaigns branding activists and journalists as "foreign agents" to silence dissent.
- Since President Prabowo Subianto took power, the administration has increasingly weaponized disinformation to justify repression, with Prabowo citing "foreign agents" at least 25 times in key speeches to frame dissent as orchestrated rather than legitimate.
- These online smear campaigns often precede physical violence; rights activist Andrie Yunus suffered an acid attack in March 2026 after months of coordinated posts labeling him a "foreign agent."
- Meta, TikTok, X, and YouTube allowed harmful content to spread rapidly, with most documented posts remaining online for months; only TikTok pledged to set up additional monitoring in response.
- Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard warned that authoritarian practices are accelerating, with proposed laws on "Countering Disinformation and Foreign Propaganda" risking further restrictions on freedom of expression and deepening Indonesia's authoritarian trajectory.
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15 Articles
The human rights group found that disinformation campaigns on social networks were carried out with the participation of accounts that were probably linked to military units and the party of the incumbent president.
A new report denounces campaigns coordinated online against critical voices against the government, whether media or NGOs, a consequence of the arrival at the presidency of Prabowo Subianto. The accounts linked to the army have spread the accusations of being 'foreign agents', with consequences even violent, while the large social platforms avoid to intervene.
Indonesian authorities using online disinformation campaigns to target critics, Amnesty says
JAKARTA, May 19 - Indonesian authorities, including the military, used online disinformation campaigns to brand activists and journalists as \"foreign agents\" and silence dissent, sometimes leading to physical threats, Amnesty International said in a report released on Tuesday. Read more at straitstimes.com.
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