Minister calls for platform transparency
In a video distributed to news outlets on the evening of October 21, 2026, Minister Meutya Hafid said her ministry had not requested restrictions on fire-related information. Public reports help the government respond to the fires, she said, and access to information is a public right.
Meutya urged the public to press social media companies for greater transparency and accountability in their algorithms. "Platforms must be responsible for how information reaches the public," she said.
Her statement followed an October 18 denial by Deputy Minister Angga Raka Prabowo. He said the government welcomed criticism and reports of restrictions, while suggesting that violations of platform guidelines could explain the reduced visibility.
The complaints concern shadow banning, in which accounts or posts have their reach or visibility restricted. Kompas observed complaints from users who said their view counts fell after they reposted material about the fires. The reports have emerged over several weeks amid worsening fires and limited responses in several regions.
Jerome Polin, Andien, Tasya Farasya and Ustad Adi Hidayat are among the public figures who have raised the issue. Jerome shared posting strategies, including Instagram's "Add Yours" template, which he considered a way to increase views and counter algorithmic restrictions.
Earlier takedowns fuel suspicion
Remotivi linked public distrust to the ministry's moderation record in an October 20 Instagram post. The media research and monitoring organization highlighted the handling of video from the Pejompongan incident during the August 27, 2026, demonstration. The ministry had denied requesting that video's removal, attributing its disappearance to the platform's enforcement of community guidelines.
Remotivi said the National Commission on Human Rights, Komnas HAM, subsequently disclosed that the ministry had acknowledged removing 486 items connected to the demonstration, including content about Pejompongan.
An ANTARA News report adds that the ministry denied restricting internet access during the demonstration when questioned by Komnas HAM. It acknowledged taking down the 486 items on August 27 after cyber patrols identified what it considered links to legal violations. The commission said it was still reviewing the legal grounds for those removals to determine whether they infringed freedom of expression.
Notification requirements are also part of the legal framework. According to the government's Bakom RI Deputy III Kurnia Ramadhana, Constitutional Court ruling No. 311/PUU-XXIV/2026, dated September 29, 2026, requires digital notification or written notice explaining the reasons before access is terminated under Article 40(2b) of the ITE Law, BBC News Indonesia reported.
Fires spread, disrupting health and travel
Data from deforestation monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas show the scale of the fires. Indonesia's cumulative burned area reached 1.92 million hectares at the end of September 2026, compared with 895,650 hectares at the end of August. The September figure surpassed the 1.39 million hectares recorded over the same period in 2019. By October 20, the platform had detected at least 1.15 million hotspots nationwide, according to Kompas.com.
The same report cited Indonesia's civil aviation authority as recording 2,604 domestic flights affected by haze since August 11, 2026. More than 1,400 were canceled or delayed.
In Papua, Ministry of Forestry data cited by BBC News Indonesia indicate that forest and land fires affected more than 30,000 hectares in 2026. South Papua accounted for the largest area, 25,838.53 hectares, three times its 2025 figure.
Environmental group Walhi detected 8,324 hotspots across Papua from January through October 2026. Of those, 1,834 were in food estate areas, 913 in sugar-cane or energy estate areas, 1,221 in forest-utilization business permit concessions and 560 in oil-palm concessions.
Greenpeace Indonesia said roughly 40 million people in Kalimantan and Sumatra had endured hazardous haze from forest and peatland fires for two months. It accused the Prabowo-Gibran administration of failing to show a serious commitment to the health consequences and ignoring calls for a national disaster declaration, according to a Greenpeace Southeast Asia release.
That release also described action in Singapore. Its National Environment Agency issued notices to 10 Indonesian plantation companies it says are responsible for cross-border haze, warning of enforcement under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act. Senior Minister K. Shanmugam said Singapore would, for the first time, pursue the corporate groups and beneficial owners behind individual plantations.
Digital rights groups seek oversight and remedies
SAFEnet, which advocates for digital rights in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, has begun collecting complaints about restrictions on fire-related posts and possible government involvement. In an October 21 statement marking two years of the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka administration, it described censorship as part of a wider failure to protect a free, safe, equitable and accountable online environment.
The organization said citizens feared criticizing the government while their personal data remained inadequately protected. It also criticized the difficulty digital violence victims face in obtaining justice and the lack of sufficient public scrutiny of technology policy.
SAFEnet documented 5,549 digital rights violations from 2025 through mid-2026 across four categories: internet access, freedom of expression, digital security and online gender-based violence. It cautioned that incomplete monitoring and reporting left many victims uncounted.
Over that period, it received about 1,087 reports of digital security attacks and incidents. These included 269 threats, 194 hacking incidents, 156 doxing incidents, 79 account suspensions and 69 data breaches. SAFEnet said such attacks affected people from varied backgrounds and could jeopardize their safety, privacy, work and participation in public life.
Freedom House's Freedom on the Net 2025 report scored Indonesia at 48 out of 100, down from 49 a year earlier. The report said the government criminalized critical internet users and that people expressing themselves online continued to face attacks and harassment.
SAFEnet highlighted the period surrounding the August 2025 protests, when students, workers and others demonstrated against proposed increases in legislators' allowances and police violence. In the two months during and after the protests, at least 215 people who voiced criticism were criminalized, and as many as 229 digital attacks occurred.
Joint monitoring by SAFEnet and Remotivi also recorded at least 73 content removals from April through September 2026. Most involved criticism of the government, including its Free Nutritious Meals program and disaster response.
SAFEnet called on the government and the House of Representatives to review and reform vague rules that could silence criticism. It urged law enforcement to protect legitimate expression, end its criminalization and provide remedies for victims. The ministry, it said, should explain the legal grounds and procedures for restricting content and internet access, establish an effective appeals process and allow independent oversight.
The group also sought an operational, independent personal data protection authority empowered to investigate, audit and impose sanctions. It called for human rights impact assessments of policies involving AI, identity verification, digital monitoring and technology-based public services, alongside an effective interagency response to digital attacks, online gender-based violence and privacy violations that ensures serious investigations and victim protection.
