Finding Clear Voices in the Middle of Chaos

Ilham Khoiri

· 5 minutes read

"During the May 21-22, 2019 riots, I felt like my head was going to explode. There were lots of videos and pictures that had been edited to spread fake news like at an intersection where the red lights were off," said Aribowo Sasmito, 42, the fact inspection director at the Mafindo antidefamation society.

On the afternoon on Wednesday (June 26), Aribowo was telling his story at his office in South Jakarta. The room measuring about 4 meters by 6 meters was equipped with two large tables, a number of laptops, printers and cabinets.

In front of him, there were two fact checkers busy working, namely Bentang Febrylian, 27, and . Khairil Haesy, 30. There was also the director for operation Dewi Sari, 44, who managed daily data assisted by financial staff members.

Aribowo said during the riots, photos of three slanted-eyed police women circulated labeled as “imports” from China, videos of police attacking mosques, as well as videos of the National Police chief reportedly instructing police personnel to shoot people were also spread.

Mafindo tried to differeniate fact from fiction. Soon, the facts were distinguished. The three slanted-eyed police women were Indonesians. The police did not attack the mosque. The video of the police had been edited. One of the female police members was Second Brigadier Adjutant (Bripda) Vani Simbolon from Pematangsiantar city police office, North Sumatra. Mafindo uploaded the verification results on the Turnbackhoax website.id, which is also a data center. The postings were then disseminated through several social media channels. They are the anti-defamation forum, and hoax forum group (FAFHH) and the @MafindoID page on Facebook. @Turnbackhoax account on Twitter and @turnbackhoaxid on Instagram.

However, all of the hoaxes or fake news, had already gone viral, including through the Whatsapp network. "The number of people exposed to hoax is always higher than the recipients of the results of the fact check," Aribowo said disappointedly.

For example, uploads containing photo verification of Bripda Vani in the Facebook @MafindoID group, June 15, 2019, were distributed only 36 times with 17 comments and 137 reactions.

Self-funded organization Mafindo is one of the people\'s movements to fight hoaxes. Starting from a chat at an anti-hoax forum on Facebook, the anti-hoax activists then formed a larger organization, Mafindo, which was launched in early 2017. With its office in Jakarta, this community has networks in 16 cities.

Dewi Sari said Mafindo was financed by donations from activists and from corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. Some people work full time here. "We handle management, financial reports and works," she said.

Mafindo is expected to become a legal entity like various similar communities. For example, Indonesian Hoaxes, Indonesia Hoax Buster, and Sekoci.

"Hoaxes have been around since 2010. Initially they appeared on the Kaskus forum, with the name Kaskus Hoax Buster, then moved to Facebook around 2013," said Adi Syafitrah, the administrator and "chairman" of the antihoax community, which has become a legal entity named Indonesian Hoaxes (IH). Some IH administrators are also form different communities, namely Indonesia Hoax Buster and Sekoci.

"When IH did not have any activities, we set up Indonesia Hoax Buster (IHB) in 2016. Administrators are in Bandung, Jakarta and Semarang," said Citra Pratiwi, 36, one of the founders of IHB.

They dissect hoaxes, verify and upload them onto their respective social media accounts. The number of hoaxes that have been debunked is quite large. Mafindo released 3,137 results of the fact checks. IHB handled 1,500 hoaxes, and IH released 2,500 verification results. Their accounts are followed by hundreds of thousands of accounts. "But, some only peeked, end even looking for our weaknesses," said Citra Pratiwi.

Social media

At the same time, several social media networks also cleaned house. The head of Facebook\'s public policy in Indonesia, Ruben Hattari, said that since 2018, Facebook had invited a number of independent institutions to check the accuracy of the news.

Facebook flags fake news. In March 2019, Facebook removed 207 pages, 800 accounts and 546 groups. Instagram, which is under one management, also deleted 208 accounts.

The head of the corporate communication at Google Indonesia, Jason Tedjasukmana, said Google collaborated with several institutions to hold fact checking and digital security training related to the 2019 election and supported the launch of Cekfakta.com. "We are committed to presenting the right information and based on facts," he said.All movements are mobilized to anticipate hoaxes that continue to roar as the number of social media users continue to increase. The Digital in 2019 report by HootSuite and We Are Social reported that internet penetration in Indonesia in January 2018-January 2019 reached 150 million people or 56 percent of the total population.

All of them use the social media platforms such as YouTube (88 percent), Whatsapp (83 percent), Facebook (81 percent) and Instagram (80 percent).

What is the role of the government?

Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara said that under Law No. 11 of 2008 concerning electronic information and transactions, the government not only promoted digital literacy but also managed social media, including their restrictions.

The ministry restricted social media during the riots in Jakarta, May 22-25 because there were many hoaxes that provoked and incited people.

“People must be protected from the spread of hoaxes. If we did not take that policy, the government would have been wrong" he said.

The head of the division for the freedom of expression at SAFEnet, Ika Ningtyas, proposed digital literacy to be included in school curriculum so that people used the internet for positive purposes. "Invite young people to think critically in receiving the information," he said.

Editor:

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