TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Minister vows to close down fake news sites immediately

Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said he had identified the origins of ten counterfeit news websites that had been providing falsified news reports from other popular news sources and that he intended to close them down immediately

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Tue, July 29, 2014

Share This Article

Change Size

Minister vows to close down fake news sites immediately

C

ommunications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said he had identified the origins of ten counterfeit news websites that had been providing falsified news reports from other popular news sources and that he intended to close them down immediately. The figure marks an increase of three from the seven counterfeit websites reported in an earlier finding by the Press Council.

He said the ministry had joined forces with the cyber crime unit of the National Police to track down those behind the fake websites.

'€œWe will track them down, but we won'€™t disclose their names publicly so that they won'€™t be able to run away with their crimes,'€ he said, as quoted by tempo.co.

In the meantime, he added, citizens should be extra careful reading online news to avoid being influenced by lies. 

Previously, Press Council member Nezar Patria said he had noticed that content on several popular news websites had been compromised. After a brief investigation the council discovered that the websites had been impersonated.

He said the fake news websites typically used additional URLs at the end of their Internet addresses. Among the news websites that had been impersonated were detik.com, kompas.com and antaranews.com.(dic)

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.