Online terrorist activities spike amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Head of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) Boy Rafli Amar on Thursday said authorities have been faced with challenges related to terrorist activities on the internet throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

As the pandemic struck and forced people to stay home and work remotely, he said, terrorist groups have maximized their online activities that range from propaganda, grow their organization by recruiting people online, and also conducted multiple fundraising.

“Security threats against public order do not suddenly disappear and have actually created new challenges such as massive terrorist activities online,” Amar said on Thursday, July 1.

He believed that terrorists have easily used the internet to indoctrinate the younger generation much more effectively and gained their support for acts of terror. For example, the attack on the Indonesian National Police (Polri) headquarters, which Amar claimed the suspect had been exposed to ISIS ideologies online.

The BNPT Head said terrorists have used the internet as a source to fund their acts as the pandemic arrived in Indonesia in early 2020. According to Amar, there had been a 101 percent increase in suspicious financial transactions during this period.

Source: Tempo