Hoax! Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs announces tax on influencer income

A post on social media platform X features a 1-minute 17-second video clip showing Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs (Menkomdigi) Meutya Hafid. In the post, Meutya appears to state that all social media platforms will be taxed, such as Facebook at 28 percent, TikTok at 35 percent, X at 5 percent, YouTube at 10 percent, and Instagram at 22 percent. The post also narrates that the income or ‘salaries’ of creators on platform X will be taxed. However, based on investigation, no statement was found from Minister Meutya Hafid mentioning that the income of influencers or content creators on social media would be taxed as claimed. The video clip originated from a Menkomdigi press conference at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs office in Jakarta on Tuesday (30/6/2026). In the press conference, Meutya explained the government’s monitoring results regarding the prevalence of online gambling promotional comment spam on social media, not taxation policy. Meutya detailed that regional influencer accounts were the largest target of online gambling comment spam at 52 percent, followed by government agency accounts at 31 percent, mass media accounts at 12 percent, and public figure and politician accounts at five percent. She also explained that most of the spam was carried out by fake accounts or bots. ‘We announce (the findings of online gambling comment spam) that the most are on five social media platforms, especially on TikTok recorded at 35 percent, Facebook 28 percent, Instagram 22 percent, YouTube 10 percent, X 5 percent,’ said Meutya. The figures of TikTok 35 percent, Facebook 28 percent, Instagram 22 percent, YouTube 10 percent, and X five percent mentioned by Meutya represent the percentage distribution of online gambling comment spam on each social media platform, not tax rates imposed on platforms or influencer income. Thus, the claim that the Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs stated that influencer income on social media will be taxed is false.