BNPT Detects Over 21,000 Radical Online Contents in 2025

Jakarta: Indonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) detected 21,199 online contents containing elements of intolerance, radicalism, and terrorism throughout 2025, reflecting the growing misuse of digital platforms by extremist networks.

BNPT head Eddy Hartono said the findings were the result of monitoring conducted by the agency’s Counterradicalization Task Force.

“In response to these findings, the task force has requested access termination through the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs,” Hartono said during a year-end press briefing on terrorism trends in 2025 on Tuesday, quoted from Antara, Wednesday 31 December 2025.

The Counterradicalization Task Force consists of representatives from several ministries and agencies, including BNPT, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), the Indonesian Military’s Strategic Intelligence Agency, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, and the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN).

Hartono said the radical content was distributed across multiple social media platforms. Meta accounted for the largest share with 14,314 items, followed by TikTok with 1,367 items and X with 1,220 items.

Beyond content monitoring, BNPT also identified 137 active perpetrators who misused cyberspace to support terrorist activities. In addition, 32 individuals were found to have been radicalized online and subsequently joined extremist networks, while 17 others conducted digital terrorist activities independently without direct network affiliation.

He explained that this pattern, commonly referred to as self-radicalization, occurs when individuals adopt extremist views through repeated exposure to online content.

“These findings indicate that the risk of misuse of digital space by terrorist groups and their sympathizers continues to increase,” Hartono said.

Meanwhile, Director General of Digital Space Oversight at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs Alexander Sabar said his office has strengthened coordination with BNPT to curb the spread of radical content online.

He said the ministry accommodates reports from the public as well as from government institutions, including BNPT, whenever harmful content is detected. These reports are then assessed before enforcement measures are taken.

“We will process the reports to determine whether content takedown is sufficient or whether access termination to a platform is required,” Sabar said.