Coordinated disinformation campaigns target Singapore over Indonesia markets and made-up meeting
Across multiple social media platforms, CNA Verify found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert.
Over the course of one week in October, coordinated disinformation campaigns spread false claims targeting Singapore over Indonesia markets. CNA Verify discovered nearly 400 posts pushing falsehoods tied to the country's stock market downturn and a secret meeting that never occurred. These posts generated nearly 12 million views across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and Facebook.
Half of these views came from just 10 posts, suggesting a highly coordinated effort. The first of the false claims emerged on October 19, when a satirical meme page with over 710,000 followers claimed that Singapore's ambassador in Jakarta had received two prominent Indonesians at his residence. The post used a Javanese colonial-era slur and asked if there was a hidden agenda behind the visit.
Singapore's embassy dismissed the allegations as "clearly disinformation." The claims were fueled by recent events, such as Indonesia's stock market crash on October 15 and a recent survey showing declining support for Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. The posts attempted to link Singapore to MSCI downgrading Indonesia's market status and suggested that Dino Patti Djalal and Saiful Mujani were working for Singapore's interests.
Further analysis revealed that several accounts posting these allegations were coordinated and appeared to be set up on the same day, posting the same words and pictures at nearly the same time. However, it could not be determined if there was a single operator behind these posts.
Written by urgent.news from Channel News Asia's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
