Indonesia Says Aceh Flood Posts Remain Online on Social Media
Indonesia says Aceh flood posts remain accessible on Instagram, X and Threads, as the ministry denies ordering or carrying out removals.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Posts showing flash floods in Aceh remained publicly accessible on Instagram, X and Threads as of Nov. 3, Indonesia’s Communications and Digital Affairs Ministry said, pushing back against claims that the government had removed flood coverage.
The ministry said it had received no request to take down the material and had taken no enforcement action. Its findings offer a snapshot of flood-related posts circulating on three major platforms, including content shared by personal accounts and news organizations.
What did Indonesia’s monitoring find?
The ministry’s monitoring report, recorded at 4 p.m. local time on Nov. 3, covered posts about flash floods in Aceh that had circulated during the previous 24 hours. The material included photographs and videos of flooding, with some posts identifying locations in West Aceh.
Farida Dewi Maharani, acting head of the ministry’s public relations bureau, said officials checked the allegations of removal. “We have checked that we received no request and did not take down content about the flash floods in Aceh,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.
The reported findings address claims that flood posts had been deleted, while also clarifying the scope of the ministry’s account: its statement referred to monitoring on Instagram, X and Threads. Posts from both individual users and media accounts appeared in the results.
Why the dispute matters for flood coverage
For people seeking updates about conditions in Aceh, social media posts can provide images and accounts shared by residents and news organizations. The ministry’s findings indicate that such material remained visible on the three platforms it monitored, but do not establish that every post or digital service was checked.
That distinction matters as claims about removal circulate alongside reports from affected areas. The ministry’s position is that it neither received a takedown request nor acted against the flood content; its monitoring recorded posts still available to the public during the stated period.
The report was based on posts circulating in the 24 hours before 4 p.m. local time on Nov. 3. Farida said the ministry had not requested or carried out removals: “We have checked that we received no request and did not take down content about the flash floods in Aceh.”
