Inside Indonesia's fake Twitter account factories

[Vanhelsing]

Photograph: Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images

The Guardian talks to Alex who was employed to counter anti-Ahok sentiment online in the lead up to the Jakarta elections by using fake pics, profiles and multiple identities across social media. One wonders how the Indonesian government can control these boiler rooms of fake news, or if they really care to.

By Kate Lamb
Mon 23rd July

To pass them off as real, Alex would enliven his fake accounts with dashes of humanity. Mixed up among the stream of political posts, his avatars – mostly pretty young Indonesian women – would bemoan their broken hearts and post pictures of their breakfasts.

Alex’s team, comprising Ahok supporters and university students lured by the lucrative pay of about $280 (£212) a month, was allegedly employed in a “luxury house” in Menteng, central Jakarta. They were each told to post 60 to 120 times a day on their fake Twitter accounts, and a few times each day on Facebook.

The cyber team was allegedly told it was “only safe” to post from the Menteng residence, where they operated from several rooms.
“The first room was for the positive content, where they spread positive content about Ahok. The second room was for negative content, spreading negative content and hate speech about the opposition,” says Alex, who says he chose the positive room.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ake-twitter-account-factories-jakarta-politic