Indonesia demands Meta and TikTok strengthen content moderation against disinformation
Indonesia's government summoned Meta and TikTok over disinformation spreading on their platforms, including deepfake videos and mislabelled footage that fuelled protests and allegedly influenced youth to demonstrate. Officials warned of penalties if the platforms do not strengthen content moderation.
What happened
Indonesia's Deputy Communications Minister Angga Raka Prabowo summoned representatives of Meta Platforms Inc, ByteDance's TikTok, and other social media platforms, demanding they intensify content moderation efforts in response to disinformation spreading on their platforms.
Disinformation circulating on TikTok and Instagram, including a deepfake video of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and mislabelled footage of past riots presented as recent events, fuelled public anger and sparked protests against the government.
The government warned platforms of penalties including fines, temporary suspension, or delisting as registered electronic platforms if they do not proactively moderate or remove disinformation, pornography, and online gambling content without waiting for government directives.
Reported impact
Protests erupted fuelled by misleading content, with some youth reportedly influenced by TikTok videos calling for demonstrations, according to the Child Protection Commission's findings on detained minors.
The Deputy Communications Minister stated the impact of disinformation is 'chaos' and that 'people do not receive accurate and complete information'.
Index analysis
TikTok and Instagram each have more than 100 million accounts in Indonesia, among the largest user bases globally, amplifying the reach and impact of false content on the platform.
Examples of harmful content included a deepfake video falsely depicting Finance Minister Indrawati saying teachers were a burden, and repurposed footage from past Jakarta riots mislabelled as current events from Monday's demonstration.
Governance controls
The government scheduled separate meetings with TikTok and Meta for later in the week and planned to send invitations to Elon Musk's X and YouTube Indonesia to address content moderation standards.
Indonesia announced plans to enforce stricter regulations requiring platforms to proactively moderate harmful content and warned of penalties ranging from reprimands and fines to temporary suspension or removal from the list of registered electronic platforms.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.