The government, through the Communications and Information Ministry, has been monitoring and verifying all hoaxes, preventing any harm these hoaxes could cause to the public. In a press gathering on Thursday, communications ministry spokesman Dedy Permadi said the ministry had been able to identify hundreds of COVID-19-related hoaxes that have been widely distributed from January to Nov. 4.

“The identified hoaxes cover a total of 1,971 issues that have been uploaded 5,065 times on social media. Facebook ranks top on the list with 4,368 identified hoaxes, compared with other platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok and many others,” Dedy said.

The Communications and Information Ministry has decided to cut off access to 4,939 uploads and has been processing 129 others. Dedy went on to say that 374 issues in 2,366 social media uploads on vaccination-related hoaxes, found mostly on Facebook, were uploaded 2,176 times. The ministry has cut off access to those uploads.

The ministry has also identified 48 issues of community activity restriction (PPKM)-related hoaxes on 1,110 social media uploads, distributed 1,092 times. Access to 964 uploads has been closed off and the ministry was currently processing 146 others.

Of those identified uploads, Dedy said, there were several interesting hoax issues, like alleging the COVID-19 vaccine was a 5G antenna and human-control device, found on Oct. 18, that the COVID-19 vaccine contains living parasites (Oct. 25) and Ireland had issued a warning on the COVID-19 vaccine side effects (Nov. 3).

“The ministry has stated that this information is false and totally misleading,” Dedy said.

The government has been all-out in its efforts to minimize and eliminate hoax dissemination, especially in relation to COVID-19. Dedy suggested that people screen the information to find out whether the information is solid or not.

“We can discover this first from the title. If the news or information comes with provocative titles or clickbait potential, then we should be highly alert,” he said. Second, people are advised to check the website address of the news they are reading. In many cases, fake websites have been created that promote fake news. It would be better for readers to look at credible news websites for reliable information. People should also be wary of the credibility of the news source. The next step, he added, was to follow credible and trustworthy news websites and state-institutions’ official social media accounts. Finally, readers should verify photos or videos that have been used in the information in a search engine, to find the origin of the material used.

People should also contribute more in the collective efforts at eliminating hoaxes by filing reports, through social media accounts, websites and email. Social media has been widely used as a hoax-distribution medium, but, Dedy added, it can also be used to help the government in eliminating hoaxes. He added that many social media platforms are equipped with report-filing features.

He also encouraged people to file a report over content that contains false information to www.aduankonten.id or send an email to aduankonten@mail.kominfo.go.id

“The Communications and Information Ministry is calling on people to stay alert about hoaxes by participating in digital-literacy events through the National Digital Literacy Movement that has been organized by the ministry,” he said.

Some 114 related stakeholders have already joined the movement, which is aimed at improving the digital literacy of 12.4 million people annually until 2024. It is expected that 50 million people will be digitally enrolled through the program. This program is free, comprising topics such as digital literacy, digital culture, digital ethics and digital security.

“The pandemic is still around, but with vaccination, wearing masks and good preparations, we can curb the risk to the greatest extent. The government will continue the work to restore health and economic conditions. Let us support pandemic control by identifying, fighting and not distributing hoaxes,” he said.

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