‘Anti-democracy’: Indonesia’s plan to limit social media accounts panned

A proposal to restrict Indonesians to just one account per social media platform has drawn strong criticism from digital rights advocates, who warn the move could stifle dissent, endanger privacy and undermine civil liberties in the world’s third-largest democracy.

Analysts say the plan reflects a growing appetite within Indonesia’s political elite for greater control over the digital sphere, especially ahead of a changing political guard and rising online activism among youth.

The idea first emerged in July when Oleh Soleh, a lawmaker from the Islamic-leaning National Awakening Party, raised it during a parliamentary hearing with representatives of Google, Meta and TikTok.

It gained traction last month after Bambang Haryadi, a senior figure in President Prabowo Subianto’s Gerindra party, publicly endorsed the idea.

“We believe that in the future, an integrated single account is also needed, so that each citizen can only have one account on each social media platform,” Bambang told reporters on September 12, citing concerns over online fraud and political manipulation by anonymous users known in Indonesia as “buzzers”.

“This is not limiting democracy, but we must make it clear that in the future, freedom of using social media will not be used as a means to carry out negative framing of individuals or institutions,” Bambang said.