More than 1200 tweets used the hashtag that day to criticise the British public broadcaster,in particular aBBC article that alleged fires had been deliberately lit to clear forests for palm oil in the province of Papua.
The palm oil industry in Indonesia and Malaysia has attracted increasing attention in recent years,with environmentalists,non-government organisations and foreign governments concerned about allegations of deforestation,land grabbing and labour rights abuses.
A new report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute examined a sample of accounts that used the BBC hashtag and found evidence they might be offering their services to various stakeholders. The report shines a light on a range of commercial services being used across the Asia-Pacific to promote disinformation.
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While foreign states are usually top of mind when commentators and governments talk about disinformation,the ASPI investigation suggests there is a shadow online “influence-for-hire” economy covering everything from content farms to high-end PR agencies.
The report’s editor,Dr Jake Wallis,said the misinformation-peddling outfits would continue to proliferate as long as there was a market for them and cheap digital labour to deliver their services.
“This creates risks for societies that aspire to meaningful democratic participation,and opportunities for foreign interference,” he said.