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SEAN leaders will meet next week to set up regulatory frameworks, including norms, for responsible use of cybermedia as government-led crackdowns on “fake news” spread across the region.

Leaders of the 10 ASEAN states are scheduled to gather at the ASEAN Summit starting from April 25 to 28 in Singapore, the group’s chair this year.

The 32nd summit, themed “Building a Resilient and Innovative ASEAN”, will comprise a series of meetings eventually resulting in a leaders’ statement on cybersecurity, said the Foreign Ministry’s director for ASEAN Political and Security Cooperation, Chandra Wira Yudha.

“The discussion on cybersecurity will cover cooperation on capacity building and deliberation of norms of responsible cybermedia use,” he said during a press briefing at the Foreign Ministry on Friday.

The talks on the partnership, he said, were needed given cyber-related political and security issues and transnational crimes involving digital media.

He added that Indonesia would emphasize the importance of personal data protection in the upcoming summit.

Cybersecurity, he said, had actually been discussed for some time but Indonesia re-encouraged it following the recent Facebook data-breach controversy.

The scandal has reportedly affected more than 1 million Indonesian users with their information being improperly shared by United Kingdom-based political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.

In the summit, Chandra said the leaders would only deliberate norms and principles on the cybersecurity issue. The discussion has yet to underline concrete actions or involve nongovernmental institutions.

“But, the norms and principles will then be formulated in the ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on Cybersecurity Cooperation. That could be a framework for further concrete partnership and regulations,” he added.

Contacted separately, Nukman Luthfie, founder of Indonesia-based Social Media Literacy Institution, said the ASEAN states should instead create regulatory frameworks on how to press cybermedia platforms so that they will commit to protecting personal data from any misuse.

“They have to agree on urging the platforms about maintaining privacy. They have to guarantee that no data breaches could possibly be used to divide people,” he told The Jakarta Post, adding that ASEAN had yet to draft a binding regulation on cybermedia platforms.

“States should regulate laws rather than norms. [Users’] norms are none of their business,” he added.

The summit is also expected to release other statements on smart city networks and migrant-worker protection.

In regard to the smart city networks, all member states are requested to propose between two and three cities to be nominated as ASEAN smart cities with Indonesia proposing Jakarta, Makassar in South Sulawesi, and Banyuwangi in East Java.

Also in the briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir confirmed that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo would attend the summit.

The summit will start with a meeting of ASEAN permanent representatives on April 25 and a senior officials meeting on April 26.

The ministerial meeting is on April 27 and the summit proper is set for April 28.