Indonesia: Feminist websites hit by digital attacks

Online feminist newsgroups, Magdalene and Konde.co experienced a range of digital attacks in the last month. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia condemn the digital attacks and silencing of feminist voices.

Magdalene revealed in a Twitter post on June 10, the newsgroup’s website was not accessible as a result of a series of cyberattacks in the last month. The site was the target of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, where a perpetrator maliciously overloads the server to prevent people from accessing the website. Established in September 2013, Magdalene is a bilingual news website founded by three female journalists, that publishes stories on women’s rights, LGBT rights and general equality.

Another newsroom, Konde.co, replied to Magdalene’s tweet opening up about a similar incident on May 15. After publishing an article highlighting the allegations of sexual violence against Ibrahim Malik, a Masters student at the University of Melbourne who has now been accused by 30 women of sexual harassment, Konde.co staff lost access to the newsroom’s Twitter account. The newsroom lost access only a few hours before a planned online discussion on sexual harassment on May 15. 

AJI said: “AJI condemns the digital attacks against Magdalene.co and Konde.co.” AJI added the attacks are obstructing the newsrooms’ efforts to inform the public about issues of gender equality and diversity.

The IFJ said: “The media plays an essential role, giving a voice to the voiceless. The IFJ supports Magdalene and Konde.co’s right to publish information and support minority communities. The IFJ urges Indonesian authorities to intervene and protect the rights of online media.” 

For further information contact IFJ Asia - Pacific on [email protected]

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 140 countries

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