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Ministry to emulate German anti-hoax strategy
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The Facebook logo is displayed on an iPad in Philadelphia, US, May 16, 2012. (AP/Matt Rourke, File)
T
he Indonesian government is taking Germany’s lead in its attempt to fight back against hoaxes and press Facebook to better filter false news from its newsfeed, a minister has said.
Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said he had sent an invitation to Facebook to come to Indonesia to talk about hoaxes a day after he learned about Germany’s plan to legislate a law that stipulates penalties for dissemination of hoaxes on the social networking service.
“We are taking Germany’s initiative as an example to be followed because they represent Europe,” the minister said in his speech at a technology forum on Thursday in Jakarta.
The German government is reportedly drafting a law that would enable the country to impose sanctions of €500,000 (US$532,847) for any post containing fake news or hate speech that is not removed from the Facebook network within 24 hours, prompting the social media giant to roll out a tool to flag fake news on its site.
“We will directly convey our concern [about the dissemination of hoaxes] when we meet representatives of Facebook Asia Pacific at the end of this month,” Rudiantara said.
The Indonesian government has declared war against the spread of hoaxes or false information on social media.
Last month, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo convened a meeting with a number of ministers and law enforcement leaders to discuss strategies to clamp down on “provocative” rumors and hoaxes on social media.
