Inside the government-run war room fighting Indonesian fake news

Indonesia has established an army of engineers aimed at containing the spread of hoaxes and fake news ahead of the presidential election next year.

More than 187 million people are expected to cast their votes when the country goes to the polls on April 17. With six months of campaigning left, a deluge of political and social narratives – true and false – are being distributed to shape voters’ views.

In an attempt to stem that flow, Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications has established a “war room,” where a surveillance team of 70 engineers monitor social media traffic and other online platforms 24 hours a day. When Bloomberg visited on Wednesday, more than a dozen engineers were keeping a close eye on posts about an incident in West Java on October 22, in which a flag bearing an Islamic creed was burned, prompting outrage across the country.

“As long as what they do is against the law of ITE, we take action,” Communications Minister Rudiantara said in an interview, referring to the Information and Electronic Transactions Law. “Everyday we find new things, everyday we find new threats.”

Rudiantara said there is evidence President Joko Widodo continues to be targeted by false claims aimed at discrediting him. “There is an indication of patterns happening again and again,” he said, without citing specific examples due to the sensitivity of the matter.

“Every minute, every second, this country is under attack,” he said, adding he uses his phone to monitor such events in real time. “Some are direct attacks by other countries and sometimes it’s one country using another country as a proxy.”

The ministry has also launched a dedicated website where people can report news they suspect is false and find out if particular claims are true.