Jennifer Yang Hui and Jordan Newton
02 October 2020
Citation: Jennifer Yang Hui, and Jordan Newton, “Toxic #Cybercampaigns: The Muslim Cyber Army versus Militant Pluralism”, Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET) Insights, 2 October 2020
Social media campaigns are exacerbating a lurch towards polarisation in Indonesia.
Fissures in Indonesian society brought about by large-scale ethnic and religious-fuelled rallies in 2016 are playing out with increasing toxicity online. Islamist groups promoting anti-government and racist narratives remain a feature on social media, but they are facing growing competition from pro-government groups emulating their hardline tactics: deploying disinformation, bot and influencer networks and on occasion doxxing. This battle of intolerance in a country where there are 160 million active social media users threatens to exacerbate burgeoning polarisation and encourage greater conflict offline.
Resilient Islamist hate
Emblematic of continuing Islamist influence online is the loosely-organised Muslim Cyber Army (MCA). Using a grassroots campaigning style that invests heavily in digital tools, the MCA targets its appeals to Muslims, spreading the perception that Islam is under threat in Indonesia and calling for support for hardline Islamist leaders and organisations.
Read the rest at Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET) Insights
Comments
Post a Comment