Overview
- Amnesty International released a report titled Building Up Imaginary Enemies that accuses authorities under President Prabowo Subianto of using coordinated online lies to discredit activists, journalists, and NGOs.
- Researchers traced a viral video that labeled protesters as foreign agents to three Gerindra party office accounts, then to 31 accounts tied to 27 military units across Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube.
- The online campaigns coincided with violence and intimidation, including an acid attack that left activist Andrie Yunus blind in one eye, with four alleged military officers now being tried in a military court.
- Amnesty says Meta, TikTok, X, and YouTube left many false posts up for months, with only TikTok pledging extra monitoring in response to the group’s outreach.
- Prabowo has invoked foreign agents in key speeches at least 25 times, and the label has spread to media targets such as Tempo, whose office later received decapitated animal carcasses as a threat.