Police arrest leaders of meme ‘syndicate’ for spreading hateful content based on race and religion on social media

Photo illustration
Photo illustration

Indonesia’s National Police recently made what could be described as their biggest meme-related arrests ever after they captured the leaders of a meme-sharing network so large and organized that the local media are calling them a “syndicate.”

The National Police’s Cyber Crimes Directorate arrested three people, identified by their initials JAS (32), MFT (43), and SRN (32), who are suspected of creating and heading a network of social media administrators called Saracen that run several Facebook groups where users post content promoting hate towards certain religious and race groups.

“The posts come in the form of writing, narration, or even memes that sway their readers to have negative opinions about people of other groups,” said Grand Commissioner Irwan Anwar, head of the Cyber Crimes Directorate, as quoted by Kompas today.

JAS is believed to be the leader and main recruiter for the network. The police did not say how many social media administrators were used by Saracen, but said that it has around 800,000 followers across several Facebook groups.

One of the network’s Facebook pages, Saracen Cyber Team, features logos for the Muslim Cyber Army, a loose network of cyber activists promoting conservative views of Islam on the banner of the page.

All three suspects were charged with violations of the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE) and could face up to six years in jail for spreading hatred and misinformation online.

The police are still hunting for more admins in the Saracen network.



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