All-Out Effort to Fight Hoaxes

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Civil servants of the Home Ministry join an event in Jakarta on Friday (22/3/2019) to promote peaceful 2019 elections and reject the use of hate speech, hoaxes or slander in the campaign period. The event, which was attended by Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, was followed by a simulation of the voting process.

Total and comprehensive efforts are needed to overcome the spread of hoaxes. Removal of hoax content on social media must be followed by promoting digital literacy.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — To overcome the spread of hoaxes or false information ahead of the general election, the government and social media platform managers are trying to reduce content comprising hoaxes on social media. These efforts will succeed optimally if they are followed by serious steps to suppress aspects of the "request" for hoaxes through digital literacy.

Digital literacy is needed because the literacy rate in Indonesia is still low. A survey on the assessment of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2015 showed Indonesian students ranked 64th out of 72 countries in literacy competencies.

A society with good digital literacy will be able to filter and be wise about all information circulating in the media. This condition will automatically reduce hoaxes because there will be a fewer number of people "interested" in such an information.

Head of Cybersecurity Policy of Facebook Nathaniel Gleicher said in Jakarta on Wednesday (27/3/2019) that the integrity of the general election, including in Indonesia, was a priority for Facebook. According to him, Facebook\'s automated system removed millions of fake accounts every minute. However, due to the rising difficulty of using fake accounts on Facebook, some accounts had been hijacked to spread hoaxes.

This practice is more difficult for the system to detect so it needs to be supported by experts. With regard to this, Facebook has involved 30,000 investigators throughout the world. To protect the election in Indonesia from foreign interference, Facebook has prohibited the installation of political advertisements purchased by foreign parties.

To protect the public from election disinformation, Google Indonesia\'s Head of Public Policy and Government Relations Putri R. Alam said Google had created a rating system based on the quality of information. In search engine algorithms, Google places trusted sources at the top.

Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro

T-shirts warning against hoaxes and false news are worn by Jakarta Police officers at a declaration against hoaxes at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Monday (12/3/2019). At the event, the police vowed to protect the public against false news, which some say could break national unity.

Digital literacy

Today social media has become fertile ground for the spread of false information. A Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow study published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives (2017), titled "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election", showed that, ahead of the US presidential election, most internet users accessed false information through social media (41.8 percent). On the contrary, information from online news portals accessed through social media was only 10.1 percent.

In Indonesia, the Communication sand Information Ministry in the August 2018-February 2019 period identified 771 hoaxes in the online space. Up to 181 of them were related to the 2019 election, both questioning the presidential and vice presidential pairs as well as political parties participating in the election.

A member of the General Election Commission, Viryan Aziz, said there are two types of hoaxes feared, namely those that attacked election participants and election organizers.

Chairman of the Indonesia Cyber Security Forum (ICSF) Ardi Sutedja said the spread of hoaxes on social media platforms was classified as a cognitive "war" capable of changing someone\'s opinion.

With regard to this matter, chairperson of the Indonesian Antidefamation Society’s R&D Committee, Santi Indra Astuti, said that the short-term steps to overcome hoaxes, namely through account closure, law enforcement and the checking of facts, were still needed. However, these efforts need to be accompanied by promoting digital literacy by all parties, such as the government, community organizations and religious leaders.

"I hope the government makes a clear blueprint for the development of Indonesian people in the digital era through the establishment of digital literacy curriculum that involves many parties and a never-ending massive movement," Santi said.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Civil servants of the Home Ministry join an event in Jakarta on Friday (22/3/2019) to promote peaceful 2019 elections and reject the use of hate speech, hoaxes or slander in the campaign period. The event, which was attended by Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, was followed by a simulation of the voting process.

Until now, the digital literacy movement has been carried out through the dissemination of information related to the characteristics and types of hoaxes. In a number of countries, literacy efforts are carried out through massive campaigns and school curriculum.

( MED/E21/SPW/SAN/INK)