“We don’t use buzzers at all,” Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, the office’s deputy head of politics, law, security and human rights affairs, said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.

Buzzers, who tend to be anonymous, are often directly paid to espouse certain political views, while influencers are public figures with a strong presence on social media. Influencers tend to have many followers and may openly promote brands.

Jaleswari said the office only accepted the services of influencers, including experts that had the capacity to discuss strategic issues, as buzzers tended to remain anonymous when addressing issues.

She also claimed that the Executive Office of the President did not give special treatment to influencers.

“Payments are given according to the budget of ordinary sources. We use transparent and accountable principles while not diminishing the government's attitude of allowing us to have different opinions.”

Previously, Donny Gahral Adian, a leading expert at the office, said the government never hired buzzers.

 “I want to clarify that the government has never organized buzzers. [Buzzers] exist because of democracy,” he said during a discussion hosted by the University of Indonesia’s Alumni Association (Iluni UI) on Tuesday.

He said that in a democracy, the ruling factions and their opposition usually had supporters, regardless of whether they were paid to speak up.

“There are indeed private buzzers who work independently. Their political affiliations can lean toward the ruling party or the opposition,” he said, adding that buzzers who violated the law should be held accountable.

The statements came amid public suspicious that the government was employing buzzers to support and defend its policies.

Concerns over hired buzzers escalated after recent cyberattacks against government critics, including online news publication tempo.co, which had its website defaced, and Pandu Riono, an epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia, whose Twitter account was hacked.

Last month, graft watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) found that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo's administration had spent at least Rp 90.4 billion (US$6.138.338) of the state budget on digital activities involving social media influencers since 2017.

Among the documents found by the antigraft watchdog was a 2019 public school enrollment promotion involving Indonesian actresses Gritte Agatha and Ayushita, which cost Rp 114 million.

Donny said the Rp 90 billion was not allocated only for influencers.

“The Rp 90 billion was a budget for public relations. It was used for many purposes including public service advertisements through printed and audiovisual media,” he said on Friday. “So it was not exclusively for influencers.” (mfp)