JAKARTA, thekabarnews.com—Indonesia’s Communication and Digital Ministry (Komdigi) has denied asking social media companies to suppress content about forest and land fires (karhutla). This denial comes after users reported removals and declining reach on TikTok and Instagram.

The allegations intensified when TikTok removed a video showing Siak Regent Afni Zulkifli planting trees on land damaged by fires in Riau. Notably, the verified account’s video had reportedly attracted more than 5 million views. The platform then removed it for an unspecified violation of its community guidelines.

Several users also claimed that posts about fire victims, fundraising campaigns and firefighting conditions had received unusually low engagement. However, those reports do not by themselves establish that platforms applied a coordinated “shadow ban.” That term is commonly used for an undisclosed reduction in content distribution.

Afni said the removed video documented an official reforestation activity involving students and local officials. This event took place on 4.5 hectares of fire-damaged land owned by a regional government enterprise.

“What is wrong with inviting students and the public to plant trees at a former forest-fire site? Is it so dangerous that it had to be taken down?” Afni said.

The Siak administration appealed the decision, and TikTok restored the video on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Afni confirmed the result, saying the content had returned after her administrator submitted the appeal.

The reversal indicates that TikTok reconsidered its initial decision. However, the reports reviewed for this article did not include a detailed explanation from the company about which rule triggered the removal.

TikTok’s official help center states that the company removes posts it determines violate its guidelines. Furthermore, users can challenge a decision through the removal notification or the affected post. The platform may then restore the content.

Communication and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid rejected claims that her ministry had ordered Meta, TikTok, or other platforms to restrict information about fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

“There was no request from Komdigi to remove content or restrict information about forest and land fires,” Meutya said in a video statement on Wednesday, Oct. 21.

She said the government needed credible reports from affected communities to support its response.

“Information related to karhutla [forest and land fires] is also important to the government as input for handling them,” she said.

Meutya attributed possible distribution changes to platform moderation systems and community rules. Meanwhile, she called on technology companies to disclose more information about how their algorithms recommend or limit posts.

“What we see and consume on social media should be the user’s right as a consumer to choose, not something unilaterally determined by technology companies,” she said.

She urged users who believed platforms had wrongly restricted or removed their posts to file an appeal and report the case to Komdigi, as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia.

Public suspicion grew after screenshots circulated showing Meta AI claiming that some account restrictions followed legal requests from Komdigi.

The chatbot reportedly cited unrelated content-removal statistics, but its answer did not provide a verifiable order specifically targeting wildfire information.

Meta AI does not speak officially for Meta and may combine unrelated information or generate inaccurate claims. Furthermore, none of the publicly available platform audits referenced in the reports found any evidence that Komdigi had requested a blanket ban on wildfire posts.

The dispute therefore remains an accountability issue rather than proven government censorship. Komdigi has issued a clear denial. Meanwhile, the platforms still need to explain individual enforcement decisions and provide meaningful appeal mechanisms.

“Our voices matter, information is our right, and platforms must take responsibility for how information reaches the public,” Meutya said.