Social Media Flooded with Negative Comments Following MBG Mass Poisoning

Several schools in Indonesia have reportedly experienced mass poisoning cases due to the menu of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program. According to Litbang Kompas's monitoring, this condition has triggered many negative posts and comments from netizens.

Of all conversations related to the MBG program on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X monitored from September 17-25, 2025, the majority, or 66%, contained negative sentiment. 

Meanwhile, 18% of conversations had positive connotations, and the remaining 16% were neutral.

Litbang Kompas also mapped out 10 topics of netizen discussion with predominantly negative sentiment towards the MBG program. Netizens' calls to stop this program recorded the highest negative sentiment, at 100%.

“The wave of calls to stop MBG was expressed with various sentiments in the comment sections. From short calls like ‘stop MBG’, ‘hentikan MBG’ (stop MBG), to calls accompanied by netizens' views,” Litbang Kompas wrote in its report on Monday, September 29, 2025.

Other topics with negative intent included netizens viewing MBG as a hotbed for corruption (99%), puns on MBG becoming 'makan basi gratis' (free stale food) or 'makan beracun gratis' (free poisoned food) (98%), and discussions about MBG poisoning cases (83%). 

"To counter all of this, the government needs to conduct a comprehensive evaluation from upstream to downstream," Litbang Kompas wrote. 

Meanwhile, according to the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), as of September 22, 2025, there were 4,711 reported victims of MBG poisoning.