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Govt revisits plan for ‘social media council’
Communications and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi has revived a plan to set up a council to monitor social media content and make these platforms “more accountable”, despite fears over its potential impact on freedom of speech online.
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The Communications and Information Ministry has revived a plan to set up a council to monitor social media content (Pexel/Tracy Le Blanc)
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ommunications and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi has revived a plan to set up a council to monitor social media content and make social media platforms “more accountable”, despite fears over its potential impact on freedom of speech online.
Talks about the need for a “social media council”, modeled after the existing Press Council, have resurfaced amid a recent spate of embarrassing social media-driven policy flip-flops, from high tuition and import curbs to shocking revelations on state corruption and unsolved crimes.
But unlike the Press Council, which aims to safeguard the work of journalists, social media has no comparable rules in place and activists are more concerned about potential government overreach and curbs to free speech.
The concept was first pitched last year shortly after Budi – the former head of Projo, a President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo volunteer group – was inaugurated as minister. At the time, he talked about the need to monitor “disturbing” social media content.
Budi brought up the plan again recently and underlined the importance of having a council for mediating disputes that occur on social media, likening it to the Press Council.
“Let’s say there's [disputable] content on TikTok, we can’t process it through the Press Council, can we?” he told Tempo magazine on May 23.
No framework has been provided on what constitutes “disputable” or “disturbing” social media content, but Budi suggested on Tuesday that the council may include academics, journalists, industry experts and public figures tasked with discussing reported content.
