A sweeping blackout that plunged Bali into darkness last Friday has ignited a flurry of conspiracy theories on social media, with viral posts falsely claiming the outage was part of a pandemic simulation orchestrated by the World Health Organization.
The reality, however, is rooted in a far more mundane cause: a technical failure in the island’s power supply.
The Conspiracy Narrative
On 2 May, power and internet services abruptly cut out across Bali, disrupting businesses, homes and tourism operations.
A number of social media users have woven the blackout into a larger narrative of global control.
Posts circulating on Facebook linked the event to recent power cuts in Europe—specifically citing Spain, among other countries. These posts warned of an international plan tied to the United Nations’ “Agenda 2030”.
“This is not a coincidence but part of the UN2030 agenda,” read one post viewed more than 6.800 times and was shared by at least 101 Facebook accounts.
The message claimed the blackout was a trial run for “total control population,” connecting it to a “WHO Plandemic Treaty” and a broader “cyberattack ‘plandemic’.”
The implication was that Bali’s blackout was not an isolated infrastructure failure, but a coordinated step in a global rehearsal for authoritarian control.
No evidence has surfaced to support any of these claims.
The Source of the Outage
Clearly documented reports by the state utility company PLN quickly traced the fault to a breakdown at the Celukan Bawang coal-fired power plant in northern Bali.
“Initial indications show the disruption began at Celukan Bawang Power Plant Unit 2, which caused a halt in electricity supply across parts of Bali,” said I Wayan Eka Susana, Communication Manager for PLN Bali, in a statement reported by Kompas.com.
The disturbance at the plant triggered automatic shutdowns across the island’s electrical grid.
But that wasn’t the only failure.
Simultaneously, a high-voltage transmission line supplying power from East Java—part of a submarine cable system that normally delivers up to 270 megawatts—experienced a sudden drop to zero megawatts.
The resulting power imbalance caused a frequency collapse, prompting widespread outages across the province.
So, no, Bali’s blackout last Friday was not part of a secret pandemic rehearsal. It was the result of power plant failure and transmission disruption—mechanical problems, not manufactured ones.
