Indonesia's counter-terrorism agency highlights rising online terrorism content

Jakarta, Oct 31 (IANS) Indonesia's counterterrorism agency, BNPT, has identified at least 2,264 social media accounts spreading 10,519 pieces of content related to terrorism, based on monitoring from Jan. 1 to Sept. 29 this year.

BNPT Chief Commissioner Eddy Hartono said the trend of open terrorist attacks has continued to decline since 2018, with no terrorist incidents reported throughout 2023 to date.

"However, their approach has now shifted from hard to soft, conducted online and targeting women and children," Eddy said on Wednesday.

The identified content spans categories such as propaganda, attack execution, recruitment, and intolerance, and is distributed across platforms including Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and WhatsApp, Xinhua news agency reported.

BNPT stressed the importance of government preventive measures in combatting online terrorism, particularly as the percentage of youth exposed to terrorist content has risen from 0.3 percent in 2016 to 0.6 percent in 2023.

--IANS

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