Buzzer Boss and Former JAK TV Director Acquitted of Obstruction of Investigation

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — The head of the Cyber Army team, M Adhiya Muzakki, and the former Director of News at JAK TV, Tian Bahtiar, were acquitted of charges of obstructing investigations into a number of cases handled by the Attorney General’s Office.

‘Directing that the accused be acquitted immediately after the verdict is read,’ said Judge Effendi at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday, 4 March 2026.

The judge found that Adhiya and Tian did not knowingly intend to prevent, obstruct, or derail investigations, prosecutions, and court proceedings against suspects, defendants, or witnesses in corruption cases as alleged by the prosecutors.

Adhiya was involved in producing content with a negative slant about the legal process underway at the request of lawyer Marcella Santoso.

The content was also created to counter narratives that harmed Marcella’s client.

By creating and disseminating the content with the help of 50 buzzers, Adhiya earned up to Rp 864.5 billion.

‘Considering that after examining the legal facts presented in court in light of the applicable regulations, the panel of judges concluded that the acts of the accused amounted to freedom of expression protected by the 1945 Constitution,’ the judge said.

Similarly, the judge considered the content in the form of podcasts, discussions, and programmes produced by Tian Bahtiar as journalistic products.

The judge also did not find any malicious intent by Tian to obstruct investigations.

Meanwhile, the receipt of money and its connection to buzzer activity cannot be directly viewed as a criminal act, but should be considered as democratic ethics.

‘Considering that although it has also been proven that the defendants’ activity on social media earned money from witness Marcella Santoso provided by her staff, this cannot automatically be qualified as the malicious intent underlying the series of actions to prevent, obstruct, or derail investigations, prosecutions, and court proceedings against the suspects or witnesses in corruption cases, but rather relates to the ethics of democracy,’ the judge said.

Tian and Adhiya were found not to have violated Article 21 of Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 20(c) of the National Penal Code.