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PORT VILA, KOMPAS.com – Vanuatu authorities responded to racist comments in Indonesian on social media promoting the country’s tourism.
The Vanuatu Tourism Board says it believes he has been subjected to “inauthentic coordinated behavior” on several of his social media accounts, such as Facebook and Instagram.
Hundreds of politically charged and racist comments were posted on photographs promoting Vanuatu culture.
Also read: Instagram of Vanuatu tourism tinged with racial comments, this is the response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Many comments were even found on photos that have been uploaded since July.
To the program ABC Radio Pacific BeatNick Howlett, communications manager for the Vanuatu Tourism Office, said they were not surprised by the hundreds of comments they received.
Nick explained that, while it doesn’t happen often, they have seen similar comments before when Vanuatu leaders or politicians raise the Papua issue.
“Something appears to be inauthentic coordinated behavior, because it doesn’t seem genuine … and it doesn’t reflect habitual actions.”
There are allegations that many accounts comment as newly created accounts or bot accounts, because they have not uploaded photos on their profiles or do not even have ‘followers’ at all.
Last October, Facebook and Instagram removed accounts from Indonesia that they also described as “inauthentic behavior.”
Also read: Take a look at the economy of Vanuatu, a small country that touches on human rights in Papua
Previously, Facebook and Twitter had shut down a number of bot accounts that were believed to be running Indonesian propaganda to deny human rights violations in Papua.
