‘Explosive’: Foreign minister weighs in on Indonesian cyber army of One Nation supporters

Australia’s foreign minister has described revelations that a surge in social media support for Pauline Hanson is coming from accounts in Indonesia as “explosive developments”.

Earlier this week, A Current Affair revealed hundreds of foreign influencers supporting Hanson on Facebook could be the first time Indonesian “buzzers” had been deployed on Australian politics.

A buzzer is a form of digital labourer available for hire in Indonesia as part of a shadowy industry often used to influence political campaigns.

One Nation denied having anything to do with the Indonesian posts supporting the party, labelling it “deliberate foreign interference in Australian politics”.

Sources within Australia’s Foreign Affairs Department not authorised to speak publicly said there is no evidence to substantiate claims of “foreign state actor involvement”.

A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong referred to One Nation’s own admissions in recent weeks that it has hired virtual assistants for candidates in the Philippines, as well as outsourcing animation there too.

“There is already evidence of One Nation paying people from other countries as part of its digital campaigning,” the spokesperson said.

“It is for One Nation to explain these explosive developments.”

Hanson addressed the issue herself last night in Canberra, saying she was “shocked about it” when it was raised with her.

She believes the people behind the posts are chasing money “using my name, which gets clicks”.

“These companies are piggybacking on One Nation because they’re high numbers that I have,” Hanson said.

But some of the posts ask specific, targeted questions directly about Australian politics not consistent with an engagement-farming model, where posters are simply paid per view.

On Tuesday, a post from one of the Indonesian accounts asked its audience what they believed “caused a drop in the polls for One Nation?”

“You are the voters. What happened?” the post read.

This was uploaded around 24 hours after the latest Redbridge poll was released showing a drop in support for the party.

One Nation claimed it was “the responsibility of the Minister for Foreign Affairs” to raise further questions with the governments of the countries involved.

Requests to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry for a response have so far been declined.

In the past seven months, Facebook pages supporting Hanson have been popping up with rapid growth among Australians, whilst being controlled out of Indonesia.

One page has 117,000 members with all three administrators based in Indonesia and dozens of posts daily in support of One Nation.

Some of the content targets Muslims, yet is being posted by Indonesian accounts often with a profile picture of a woman wearing an Islamic headscarf.

One post claimed “Muslims won’t come to Australia if One Nation wins power”, others have even more volatile messaging which could potentially violate Indonesia’s strict blasphemy laws preventing public expressions of hostility or hatred towards religion.

A Current Affair messaged around 25 different Indonesian Facebook accounts supporting One Nation and failed to receive a single reply, though one account removed a video that had been questioned.

The role of buzzers can be a controversial occupation in Indonesia, with one arrested last year in Jakarta for impeding a corruption investigation.

Hanson said her party had “complained” to Meta about the issue but didn’t have further information regarding its response.

“You’ll have to talk to the CEO of One Nation, right. I’m doing my parliamentary duties. I don’t do the administrative side and besides I’m flat out sometimes using my phone properly, let alone going with this technology,” Hanson said.