Hoaxes and disinformation typically started spreading ahead of significant events such as elections, noted Deputy Communications and Information Minister Nezar Patria. Comparing the current situation to the 2014 and 2019 elections, however, Nezar believed that the spread of hoaxes was relatively calmer in terms of intensity.

Nevertheless, the government recognizes the importance of maintaining vigilance against hoaxes. The Communications and Information Ministry has been closely monitoring the spread of hoaxes in the country, using mechanisms that involve both civil society and the media. The ministry has partnered with the Indonesian Anti-Slander Society (Mafindo) and cekfakta.com, an official fact-checking website created in collaboration with media industry stakeholders, to combat hoaxes and to address their spread.

Additionally, the ministry has a 24-hour monitoring unit named Monitoring Kominfo that combines both human operators and technological tools to monitor content on social media platforms and identify potential disinformation and misinformation.

For communities, the ministry has initiated SiBerkreasi, a movement that aims to provide the public with digital literacy education and create a positive, creative and innovative digital space. According to Nezar, the larger issue at hand is “how to use digital devices in a healthy, safe and culturally responsible manner”.

Nezar’s statement comes in light of emerging civil society initiatives aimed at combating disinformation and misinformation, such as Safer Internet Lab (SAIL), led by the Indonesian think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in collaboration with Google Indonesia. SAIL works to address misinformation, disinformation, and other related information disorders through research and multi-stakeholder engagement.

Nezar pointed out that initiatives like SAIL play a crucial role as digital guides for the ministry in countering misinformation and disinformation. The involvement of civil society initiatives has significantly aided the ministry, as tackling these issues alone is extremely challenging.

The deputy minister further noted that, given the potential exponential spread of hoaxes, combating hoaxes in view of the 2024 election requires significant collaboration and intense synergy with various parties, particularly digital platforms responsible for information traffic that have a large following. As a part of these efforts, the ministry has been gathering such platforms to collectively realize the Pemilu Damai (Peaceful Election) movement.

In support of this movement, digital platforms will promptly address content that promotes disinformation as well as misinformation in line with their community guidelines. The communications ministry will also be at hand to actively contact the platform in cases where a platform misses such content.

By definition, misinformation is misleading information created or shared without the intent to manipulate people. In contrast, disinformation refers to a deliberate attempt to confuse or manipulate people through dishonest information. Hoaxes are similar to disinformation and are created to convince people that things unsupported by facts are true.

“We can also detect hoaxes earlier [than digital platforms], hoaxes that are extremely dangerous and may provoke interethnic riots or interreligious hate, leading to division and sparking significant unrest. The ministry can directly take down these kinds of problematic content,” said Nezar in an episode of Tenggara Talk, a video podcast by Tenggara Strategics and facilitated by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta, which focuses on Indonesia’s road to the 2024 election.

Nezar emphasized, however, that the ministry’s efforts to moderate social media content in the country are not done arbitrarily, as some content may fall into a grey area where their accuracy and legality are still a subject of public debate or dispute. In this case, the ministry would reach out to relevant parties over its accuracy to assess whether the content falls into the legal realm.

“If there is a legal decision that it [the content] must be taken down, then we will take it down. We [at Monitoring Kominfo] know that if there is content that enters our negative list, it will automatically trigger actions in accordance with the established regulations,” he said.

In addition to digital platforms and the greater public, the Communications and Information Ministry has also engaged with election organizers as well as various communities and organizations.

Among election organizers, the ministry has been coordinating with the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to establish a procedure for jointly monitoring various content on social media platforms related to the 2024 election, including advertisements and general content.

Nezar also touched upon artificial intelligence (AI) in his Tenggara Talk appearance, hosted by SAIL advisor Phillips J. Vermonte.

According to Nezar, AI is at its most dangerous when it is used to both produce and distribute hoaxes. This risk is mostly associated with digital platforms, which is where AI ethics came into play. Consequently, the ministry is developing a code of ethics on AI usage to serve as a guide for social media companies and users.

As part of this process, intensive discussions are being held with various stakeholders in AI, including the Artificial Intelligence Research and Innovation Collaboration (Korika) of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and UNESCO, which are also in the process of developing ethics guidelines for AI users.

Nezar added that the ministry is also creating a road map for AI development in Indonesia.

Building on the gravity of the potential surge in hoaxes ahead of next year’s election, another issue that has recurred in every election is data, particularly voter data, he said. In this area, the ministry is drafting implementing regulations to follow up on the Personal Data Protection Law passed last year.

“We are currently in the public consultation phase for this, and we are seeking broader participation to gather input. Our aim is to finalize the government regulations before the election,” Nezar said.

This article is published in partnership with Tenggara Strategics and the Safer Internet Lab (SAIL)

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