Exclusive: Adira says she doesn’t know much about her target countries or even know who their leaders are. Instead she’s chasing money from Meta, which pays for engagement

“This machine operates by attracting those who are most economically vulnerable,” Angtyasti Jiwasiddi has written in the Indonesian newspaper Kompas. “This job requires zero skills and zero capital, requiring only a cell phone and a few accounts.”

The phenomenon is partly the result of Meta’s business model, according to a Queensland University of Technology media researcher Associate Prof Timothy Graham, who pointed to the incentive structure that provides cash for content engagement in an effort to keep eyes on the platform.