Jakarta - Every month, more than 20 social media accounts and websites are closed for facilitating the illegal recruitment of Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI). Thousands more are still operating, deceiving prospective PMIs with false promises of work abroad.
In response to this threat, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) together with the Ministry of Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection (P2MI) are committed to strengthening cyber surveillance to protect Indonesian migrant workers from exploitation and human trafficking.
The Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, Meutya Hafid, emphasized the importance of strict supervision of digital activities targeting migrant workers.
“We have developed a cyber monitoring system that can detect social media sites and accounts that are indicated to be conducting illegal recruitment. However, the challenge is to speed up the takedown process so that this threat can be acted on immediately,” he said in a meeting with the Minister of P2MI, Abdul Kadir Karding, in Jakarta, Friday (7/3/2025).
Based on P2MI data in 2023, more than 5 million Indonesian migrant workers departed without following proper procedures, making them vulnerable to labor exploitation and human trafficking. The majority of them were recruited through digital platforms, where illegal agents offer jobs with the lure of high salaries and fast processes, but which end in torture, forced labor, or even modern slavery.
According to Meutya Hafid, cooperation across ministries and agencies will be able to accelerate action against harmful content on digital platforms. “We have a cyber monitoring system that can detect and take action against sites or accounts that are indicated to be illegally recruiting migrant workers. However, in some cases, the take down procedure involving digital platforms takes longer. We will encourage the acceleration of this process so that the protection of migrant workers can be more optimal,” she said.
In addition to enforcement efforts, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics will also strengthen digital education for prospective migrant workers to be more vigilant against fraud schemes in cyberspace. Dissemination will be carried out through various communication channels, including social media, radio, and national television, to ensure that information about official channels for working abroad is easily accessible to the public.
“In principle, we are also ready from the digital platform side to help if there is socialization, for example, agents that should be avoided by migrant workers or maybe it is better through infographics and others. It can also be like warning the methods commonly used by perpetrators, we can create a digital campaign or public service advertisement,” he said.
P2MI Minister Abdul Kadir Karding highlighted the high number of cases of illegal recruitment of migrant workers through social media and digital platforms. According to the Ministry of P2MI's monitoring, every month there are around 23 to 27 websites or social media accounts that must be taken action against because they are suspected of facilitating the illegal recruitment of migrant workers.
“We are building synergy with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics in order to fulfill the main mandate given by President Prabowo Subianto,” he said.
With closer synergy between the Ministry of Communication and Informatics and the KP2MI, it is hoped that the protection of Indonesian migrant workers can be more effective and comprehensive, starting from before departure, while working abroad, until they return to their homeland.
“The government is committed to utilizing digital technology as the main tool in combating cybercrime that threatens the safety of Indonesian migrant workers,” he said.