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Let's spread peace, Jokowi urges Facebook
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo asks social media colossus Facebook to join efforts to spread peace and tolerance
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (right) speaks to chief executive officer of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg during a visit to the social networking site giant's headquarters in Silicon Valley, US on Wednesday. (Photo Courtesy of Presidential Staff Office/Presidential Staff Office)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has invited social networking giant Facebook to join Indonesia's efforts to battle radicalism.
Jokowi visited Silicon Valley in San Francisco, the US, on Wednesday where he met Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
"I urge Facebook to spread the message of tolerance, moderation and peace," the President said in a press statement on Thursday.
In a discussion on counterterrorism at the US-ASEAN Summit in Sunnylands a day earlier, Jokowi expressed similar sentiments to US President Barrack Obama and ASEAN leaders.
Terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (IS) movement are adept at using social media to propagate radicalism and invite potential fighters to join the network.
Therefore, Jokowi argued, governments also needed to engage in social media to spread a counternarrative of peace and tolerance .
Facebook has more than 1 billion active users globally and is rapidly increasing in numbers in Indonesia.
Southeast Asia's largest economy has the fourth-most Facebook users in the world, with around 65 million active users from a population of 250 million.
During the visit to Facebook's headquarters, Jokowi and First Lady Iriana visited Facebook employees' working space and met Indonesian employees. The couple and the Indonesian delegation also visited the Oculus Virtual Reality demonstration site.
At the end of his visit, Jokowi wrote a short message, entitled "Together with peace in harmony", on Facebook's signature wall. (rin)
