The Control of Information.
How the rich and powerful shape the media and control your mind. By Dr. Judith Brown
Fact checking in Asia – Part 4 Indonesia.
“The four findings are 1) The colonialization of cyber media by Google. 2) Google through AdSense influences the business model and the development of clickbait in cyber media journalism. 3) "What Google Said" as the new news value and news distribution reference. 4) The development of Google's journalism mindset in writing news, namely writing based on keywords.” Musikhim, M., Rizkiansyah, M., 2021.
Introduction to Indonesia.
Indonesia is an Island nation, the most populous country in Southeast Asia. The islands of Indonesia straddle the equator, and are positioned north of Australia. To the west is the Indian Ocean, with the Pacific to the east. It was colonised by the Dutch and called the Dutch East Indies until it gained its independence in 1949, when it adopted its current name.
Indonesian media and fact checking.
Media companies, cyber media companies, journalists unions and fact check organisations are highly integrated in Indonesia. During President Suharto’s autocratic regime in the 1990s, journalists in Indonesia who wanted to report independently were increasingly subject to harassment; additionally, a number of media companies were decommissioned by the regime. In 1994, a group of 100 journalists in Jakarta formed a union called The Alliance of Independent Journalists or Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI) which operated for some years as an undercover organisation. In 1995, this new union of journalists took the step of joining an international journalism group, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The mission of AJI was to defend press freedom, improve media professionalism, and to attend to the welfare of its members. In 1998, after protests, President Suharto resigned and gradually a process emerged that moved Indonesia towards stability and democracy, and Indonesian journalists, and their professional organisations, were able to operate freely [1] here. The funding of AJI is not specified but it may be funded by its membership and revenue raising activities such as training journalists.
Mafindo.
The first fact check platform in Indonesia started with a Facebook page in 2015, which was a small community driven group, Forum Anti-Fitnah Hasut dan Hoax (Anti hoax slander and sedition forum), in response to misinformation that had appeared online after the 2014 election. This became a popular Facebook page, which spread by word of mouth, through friends and family contacts. Harry Sufehmi, one of the founders, decided to develop the Facebook group into a national fact check platform, called Masyaraket Anti Fitnah (Society against Slander), known as Mafindo, launched in 2016 [2] here.
Cyber Media.
With the development of more cyber news sites in Indonesia, a networking organisation for internet news groups was formed, the Indonesian Cyber Media Association (ASMI), a non-profit organisation which was launched in 2017. The rationale for this was that with the growth of the internet, the media industry had entered the digital world, in which there was very little regulation or control, and AMSI considers itself as a professional body that was formed to improve the quality of online content. It started with 26 founder members, listed on its website. From the outset, AMSI was associated with the Indonesian Press Council, and traditional media companies, creating a network within Indonesia. One of the stated aims of AMSI is to protect press freedom in Indonesia. Members of AMSI must be press/broadcast companies, either in the form of limited company, a cooperative, or a foundation. AMSI offers legal support for media organisations, for example, to help them to obtain a press licence [3] here. In 2018, in Jakarta the capital of Indonesia AMSI hosted the first APAC (Asia Pacific) Trusted News Summit, which was Google funded [4] here. This has become an annual event. By December 2022, 428 cyber news operators were registered with AMSI in 25 Indonesian provinces. On its website funders of its projects include Google, Internews, and USAID.
Internews and its associates.
In 2022, AMSI is funded by Ads for News and Internews [5] here. Amongst its other functions, Internews helps local media outlets such as radio and press to move online; whilst this has many positive features, it also enables easier content moderation. Ads for News then helped each new online platform to find advertisers to increase revenue [6] here. Ads for News has closed down by 2025, and no website is available. Ads for News in 2022 stated that it approves media outlets that are ‘trusted’ and therefore advertising in such media outlets will not damage the reputation of companies who are placing adverts. This gives further encouragement to media outlets to conform with the dominant narrative, as advertising revenue is severely hampered in media outlets that do not follow preferred agendas. Ads for News and Internews were two departments of a company called United for News.
United for News calls itself a multi-stake holder coalition, led by the not-for-profit Internews in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF). It further states:
“United for News will undertake research and work streams that leverage the core competencies of all stakeholders. Current members include the World Economic Forum, Internews, Bloomberg, GSMA, Vodafone, the News Integrity Initiative, the London School of Economics, the Global Forum for Media Development, the Media Development Investment Fund, Omidyar Network, AppNexus, GroupM, SembraMedia, Edelman, 50/50 Project, and WAN-IFRA” [7] here.
This statement acknowledges that United for News, and Internews, have a close relationship with WEF, and WEF is described as a stakeholder in United for News. Thus, this provides a link between an Indonesian media network, and the WEF, which is a world body that has the interests of large corporates at its heart. The training offered by AMSI to journalists and fact checkers in Indonesia has the potential to be filtered to meet the needs of corporate power, rather than the needs of ordinary Indonesian people, their freedom, and their sovereignty.
Google and Cek Fakta.
AJI partnered with Google at the first APAC Trusted Media Summit held in Jakarta in 2018, and in a Google statement at the end of the conference AJI, ASMI and Mafindo are named as attendees and activists in establishing fact check platforms. The APAC Annual Summits ae also transmitted online and participants are from all countries in the Asia Pacific region, as well as Indonesians. The APAC Summits offer workshops and lectures. For example, topics from the 2022 conference included “Sharpen your digital investigation skills with AFP”, “Influencer Tips for Debunking Misinformation” and “Building Online Communities to Counter Disinformation”. Those attending are described as journalists, fact checkers, educators, researchers, activists and policymakers, offering an opportunity “…to share best practices in fact-checking, verification, media literacy, and research.”
After the Summit, Google announced that ASMI. AJI and Mafindo, had launched Cek Fakta with 22 media partners in Indonesia, as a collaborative fact checking project [8] here. This included online media companies such as Kaban24, Kompas, Lipultan6, Suara, Tempo, and Tirto. Suara was launched with the assistance of Mafindo, and Kompas describes itself as cooperating with the Mafindo fact check site, demonstrating the significance of Mafindo in the installation of a censorship regime in Indonesia. In 2018 Mafindo became a verified signatory of the IFCN code, by 2021 five of these of these named Cek Fakta groups were signatories. Mafindo states on its website that in 2018 it formed partnerships with Facebook, Google, and YouTube; it is reported as funded by Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Luminate, Internews, UN, and others [9] here. By the end of 2018, Google announced 1,800 Indonesian journalists were trained in fact checking [10] here. Mafindo is also engaged in media literacy training, for example, producing media literacy training videos in 2022 to encourage people to accept Covid-19 injections in order to reduce transmission [11] here. In this case, Mafindo was misleading the public into taking a treatment that did not reduce transmission risk, as admitted by a Pfizer executive [12] here.
The BBC links.
Outside Indonesia, in 2019 Google joined with the BBC and other media/social media groups in its launch of the Trusted News Initiative (TNI), bearing a similar name to the Google APAC Summit. In 2022, the TNI announced its partnership with the Association of International Broadcasting (AIB) that covers news organisations broadcasting in the Asia Pacific regions. At least one Indonesian media company, Kompas, joined in with this project [13] here. The four aims of the TNI project are to share alerts, to share intelligence, to educate journalists and the public, and to engineer solutions. The TNI is a shadowy project supported by Western media corporations that participates in censorship worldwide [14] here.
During the Covid era in 2020-2022, global debate on social media was restricted globally in the mainstream media and on social media, with many posts related to Covid 19 being flagged by fact checkers as misinformation or misleading, and some users were banned, or shadow banned, from posting on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. These included high profile scientists and doctors, such as three high profile epidemiologists that collaborated on the Great Barrington Declaration, the inventor of mRNA technology, and France’s leading microbiologist [15] here. However, despite not being as qualified as those that they were censoring, Indonesian fact checkers joined in the censorship project, including Mafindo that was part of the Covid-19 Task Force [16] here, and Tempo that contributed to the Poynter CoronaVirusFacts database [17] here.
Twitter files.
After the change of ownership of Twitter at the end of 2022, archived files were released by the new owner Elon Musk that revealed that the US government asked Twitter to remove or moderate tweets or to ban persons from posting tweets. These documents were released to America First Legal (AFL), and to a number of journalists including Matt Taibbi. Taibbi released information in a twitter thread. AFL documents state:
…the documents reveal that the CDC was “collaborating with UNICEF, WHO and IFCN member and leading civil society organization Mafindo” to mitigate “disinformation”. Mafindo is a Facebook third party fact-checking partner based in Indonesia that is funded by Google [18] here.
No details were given on the Mafindo actions. The AFL document includes emails from head of Google’s News Lab to the American Center for Disease Control (CDC) Vaccine Confidence Strategist Elizabeth Wilhelm, inviting her to speak at the APAC conference. Further emails reveal that a Twitter employee recommended to a US government official to enrol in Twitter’s Partner Support Portal, in order to ensure that information she forwarded to Twitter were ‘expediated’. This directly links the US administration, Google and the APAC conference in a campaign to mislead the public, with fact check platforms playing an essential role in facilitating their messages [19] here.
In Washington DC, USA, in February 2023, following the release of Twitter documents, executives from Twitter were called to the House Oversight Committee in the USA. The former Twitter legal executive, Vijaya Gadde was questioned by Representative Nancy Mace. Rep. Mace questioned Ms. Gadde on Twitter’s actions during the Covid Pandemic, on behalf of Americans with vaccine injuries.
During this exchange, Rep. Mace gave various examples, for example, a person who tweeted American government statistics had this labelled as ‘Misleading’ although it was a copy of an official government document. She gave examples of professors at Stanford and Harvard Universities, whose tweets associated with natural immunity were labelled as misinformation. She asked what qualifications Twitter had to override the opinions of esteemed doctors, and she also asked whether the US government had ever contacted Twitter to censor or moderate content. Ms. Gadde stated that this had occurred [20] here.
In events noted in the Twitter Files revelations, the exact role of what Mafindo and other Indonesian Cek Fakta groups played was not revealed. Mafindo’s fact check actions on Twitter or elsewhere are not recorded. We do know from the Mafindo media literacy video that they were not checking facts accurately. Looking at stories that were fact checked by Cek Fakta platform Tempo, and recorded on the CoronaVirusFact Alliance database, on 1 April 2021 Tempo responded to an article that stated that vaccinated persons are more susceptible to infection, stating this was untrue. However, research papers have revealed that those who have more vaccines doses are more susceptible to infectious disease [21] here. In another fact check on 13 January 2023, Tempo responded to an article on possible heart injuries caused by Covid vaccines, stating that there has not been an increase in deaths and vaccine injuries in athletes, although there is considerable evidence that sadly Covid-19 injections are associated with heart disease [22] here. If facts checks are merely opinion, and fact checkers are not as qualified as the experts they are checking, then the value of fact checking cannot be supported.
In summary, it is documented that US government, WHO, UNICEF, Twitter, and Mafindo collaborated to take action on what the US government reported as ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation’. It is also documented that some people working in the US government were given a preferred flagger status, with action on their requests expediated by Twitter. It is also documented that the professional opinions of esteemed doctors who in some way opposed the government Covid narrative, and accurate information from government websites, was censored or labelled as misleading by Twitter, and some users were banned. Following the release of the Twitter files, some banned doctors, such as Dr. Robert Malone, who invented mRNA technology, and Dr Peter McCullough, an esteemed American cardiologist, have had their Twitter accounts restored. It can also be demonstrated that Cek Fakta platforms restricted medical and scientific debate on Covid 19 issues, as happened in other parts of the world. What cannot be demonstrated is the role that Mafindo played in the collaboration to censor information that was revealed by the release of the Twitter files. However, what was shown is that there may be a political dimension when social media platforms ban users, or label content as misleading, or remove posts or tweets, and fact check platforms are being used by the media and social media to action political requests.
The Google colonisation of Indonesian media.
An interesting study published in 2020 checked the reactions of Indonesian media editors to their relationship with Google [23] here, that is very active in its control of Indonesian media. Examples of editor statements recorded in the research includes:
“The effect is, of course, extraordinary, I think. In political terms, there is the colonisation of an area, a region, a country. This is the colonisation carried out by Google, which is extraordinary for the way the media works, especially online media”
“How much development is up to Google? Google decides. The most we can do is negotiate. That’s the dilemma. The technology company is in charge.”
News Values are things that make a story more likely to be selected for publication for example, its relevance to the audiences and readers of media output. This study states that Google has become one of the most important news values in Indonesia. Editors described the way they select news, one interviewee stating, “…well, there’s one more thing, namely, what Google says…”
Google has also influenced the business model of media companies, and the development of ‘clickbait’ journalism. Several requirements must be set before a media outlet is allowed to instal Adsense, that then provides advertisements and revenue. The advertisements are based on clickbait, to attract the audiences to click on advertisements which as graphic, inflammatory, or ambiguous. News is also written based on keywords, in the Google journalism mindset, journalists must be able to predict what keywords readers use when searching for stories, and then they use these words in their news stories.
This illuminating study gives an alarming insight into the control of information in the Indian media space.
Job security for fact checkers.
The job security of fact checkers was discussed in a workshop in Indonesia, where the fact checkers income was described as still being at the donor level. However, in reality, this is where most income for censorship comes from, although some income may come from advertisements, but as described in the above study, that results in self-censorship of news outlets in order to ensure advertisement income. Where people earn income, from media literacy training or third-party fact checking, that is a created job to suit the needs of the censors.
The current issue of the continuance of Meta’s third-party fact checking platform is highly significant to fact check platforms, as it is one of the main sources of income, and this is also true in Indonesia. This means that fact checkers are likely to pressurise media outlets to continue their relationship with those who fund censorship, and to emphasise the need for censorship using terminology such as ‘hate speech’ and ‘conspiracy theories’ as well as the factually incorrect statement that disinformation is incompatible with democracy [24] here.
Conclusion.
This case study of Indonesia is extremely important as we can see the links between funders – the powerful and the extremely wealthy – and the on the ground fact checker, who may do this work simply because they need a job. For example, the Twitter files leak shows the link between US government funding, Twitter (now X), and Mafindo, an Indonesian on the ground fact check platform. In turn Mafindo has its system of fact checking approved by the American IFCN, and it exists because it is funded by Google and Meta.
Similarly, we can see the link with the BBC, funded by the UK government and philanthropists such as Bill Gates, the TNI, the AIB, and an online media company in Indonesia that also has a fact check platform, Kompas. The Kompas move online may have been with the assistance of Internews, and the viability of the online news product is funded by Google’s Adsence. Kompas is also a verified signatory of the IFCN. Being online facilitates censorship operations.
We also see the links provided by Internews, funded by the American government via USAID, and via its partner United for News linked to the WEF, an unelected body that is currently setting the agenda for global governance. Internews helped many Indonesian platforms online so that they can be more easily moderated, and funds Indonesian journalism groups and fact check platforms, including AMSI and Mafindo.
We see the links between monitoring and censorship organisations such as WEF, BBC/TNI, large censorship focussed NGOs (masquerading as humanitarian or developmental organisations), Google and Meta, and on the ground censoring operatives in Indonesia. We also see how this affects news gathering and news reporting, with the illuminating study of news editors in Indonesia. Not only does this report on Indonesia show how news output is self-censored to follow a particular narrative, but the media organisations themselves are trapped into the system and cannot escape without losing their business viability. Meanwhile, this report also reveals that fact check platforms do change correct information into incorrect information, and we can only assume that this meets the requirements of their paymasters.
The circles and networks form a trap; in order to survive, the censorship movement must keep going round, sucking ordinary people into its voracious mouth. This influences ordinary Indonesians, who are not only being censored, and subject to censored information, but are the population on which brainwashing techniques, in the form of media literacy training, are being performed. This form of brain programming is carried out by the fact checkers, who get paid by the powerful and immensely wealthy to carry out their duties as required. In Indonesia, truth has become what online news outlets and fact checkers say it is, whether it is accurate or not. This mirrors what is happening in the rest of the world.