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Crisis centers ready to combat hoaxes during elections
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Hoax free: Two people take a selfie after taking part in an event staged by the Indonesia Anti-Hoax Society on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, on Jan. 8, 2017. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A)
T
he Indonesian Anti-Slander Society (Mafindo) has set up a national anti-hoax force, which aims to tackle the spread of hoaxes in the lead up to the simultaneous regional head elections on June 27 and the 2019 presidential and legislative elections.
“We have gathered a database on hoaxes that are written in the Indonesian language nationwide. Now, we are working on a global [hoax] database,” Mafindo chairman Septiaji said, as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Thursday.
Working together with the Communications and Information Ministry, the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and the General Elections Commission (KPU), Mafindo has built hoax crisis centers in Central Java, West Kalimantan and West Java to make it easier for the public to report hoaxes and clarify issues.
The centers also aim to educate younger generations on how to create positive content.
“We have also integrated with Google Fact Check to flag negative content,” said Septiaji. The society has affiliated with 17 online media companies to support its work on clarifying news reports and revealing the identities of hoax creators.
Septiaji said the police were ready to take legal action against hoax creators. (sha/ebf)
