Giring's Instagram Account Is Missing, PSI Alludes To Cyber Operations Due To Criticism Of Anies

Giring Ganesha (Photo: ANTARA DOK)

JAKARTA - Partai Solidaritas Indonesia (PSI) Party General Chairman, Giring Ganesha's Instagram account has disappeared. The @giring account could not be found in the social media search column.

PSI spokesman Ariyo Bimo admitted that the disappearance of Giring's Instagram account was quite a shock for his party. Because there has never been an account of the PSI General Chair that has been lost or taken down.

Ariyo then mentioned the possibility of account hijacking through cyber operations. This allegation was motivated by the actions of Giring, who had previously criticized the Governor of DKI Jakarta, Anies Baswedan.

"If it is true that there is a cyber operation behind healthy criticism, then this is not very conducive to a democratic climate. Freedom of expression should not be silenced by an anti-criticism movement", said Ariyo when contacted, Tuesday, January 25.

Ariyo views the loss of social media accounts can happening to anyone. However, so far Ariyo considers all Giring's social media uploads to be within reasonable limits. He also admitted that he was surprised if it was true that the Giring account was reported to Instagram because of his upload.

"Usually this kind of incident occurs because of mass reporting, but what's wrong with Bro Giring's statuses? Is it because PSI's criticisms are deemed too sharp to be reported?", he said.

Thus, PSI is currently asking for an explanation from Instagram regarding the disappearance of the Giring social media account.

"We are trying to communicate with Instagram. This social media is run by a company, which of course has its own policies and mechanisms, which we must know more about", he added.