Inside a meme factory: meet one of thousands of Indonesians trading political outrage clicks for Facebook cash
News Source
•Sun, 09 Aug 2026 15:00:20 GMT
📰 What Happened
A content creator known as Adira works from her home in West Java, Indonesia, making Facebook posts about Australian and US politics. She does not know much about these countries or their leaders, yet she shares photos and AI-made images in groups such as ‘Team Pauline Hanson’ and ‘JD VANCE 2028’. Her goal is simple. She wants to earn dollars from Meta, which pays creators for engagement.
The Guardian reports that many of the largest One Nation supporter groups on Facebook appear to be run, and mostly filled, by overseas creators who make money from the posts. Many are based in Indonesia. They post about sensitive topics to spark outrage, because angry reactions drive more clicks and more income.
🔍 The Backstory
For years, Meta has run creator programs that pay people when their posts get likes, shares and comments. This pushes content creators to chase the most emotional reactions, including anger. The company designed this system to share viral content, but outsiders quickly learned to profit from it too.
It is cheap to live in Indonesia, so even small payments from Meta are valuable there. Some creators do not care about the politics they post about; they just see it as a job. This means political debates in other countries can end up shaped by people who are only chasing money, not trying to win a debate.
🎯 Why It Matters
Almost everyone uses social media for news. If paid strangers in other countries are writing the angry posts you see, the outrage you react to may not be genuine. That changes how you judge what is real online.
A content creator known as Adira works from her home in West Java, Indonesia, making Facebook posts about Australian and US politics. She does not know much about these countries or their leaders, yet she shares photos and AI-made images in groups such as ‘Team Pauline Hanson’ and ‘JD VANCE 2028’. Her goal is simple. She wants to earn dollars from Meta, which pays creators for engagement.
The Guardian reports that many of the largest One Nation supporter groups on Facebook appear to be run, and mostly filled, by overseas creators who make money from the posts. Many are based in Indonesia. They post about sensitive topics to spark outrage, because angry reactions drive more clicks and more income.
For years, Meta has run creator programs that pay people when their posts get likes, shares and comments. This pushes content creators to chase the most emotional reactions, including anger. The company designed this system to share viral content, but outsiders quickly learned to profit from it too.
It is cheap to live in Indonesia, so even small payments from Meta are valuable there. Some creators do not care about the politics they post about; they just see it as a job. This means political debates in other countries can end up shaped by people who are only chasing money, not trying to win a debate.
Almost everyone uses social media for news. If paid strangers in other countries are writing the angry posts you see, the outrage you react to may not be genuine. That changes how you judge what is real online.