‘I Felt Disgusted’: Inside Indonesia’s Fake Twitter Account Factories | The Guardian

In Indonesia – which ranks among the top five users of Twitter and Facebook globally – they are what are known as a “buzzer teams” – groups which amplify messages and creates a “buzz” on social networks. While not all buzzer teams use fake accounts, some do.

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The authorities have made moves to crack down on fake news and the spread of hate speech online but buzzers, which operate in a grey area have largely slipped through the cracks.

Even the central government appears to employ such tactics. The Twitter account @IasMardiyah, for example, which Alex says was utilised by his pro-Ahok buzzer team, now posts a steady flow of government messages and propaganda for President Joko Widodo – mostly retweets about Indonesia’s infrastructure and diplomatic successes, or the need to protect national unity.

Source: ‘I Felt Disgusted’: Inside Indonesia’s Fake Twitter Account Factories | The Guardian