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Indonesian homemakers face up to ten years in prison for sharing false information
Indonesian Anti-Slander Society (Mafindo) chairman Septiaji Eko Nugroho said that homemakers were prone to circulating hoaxes because they often worried about their family’s wellbeing, especially when there was a crime or health threat.
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As of last year, the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) recorded that there had been 475 criminal cases filed based on violations of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law. Perpetrators were mostly charged for defamation, hate speech and spreading hoaxes and false news. (Shutterstock/Kunst Bilder)
K
azahra Tanzania, a stay-at-home mother who lives in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, advised residents in a Facebook post to wear protective masks because she had heard that a man in the city who had recently visited China had been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.
The information, which she received from her brother who works at a local hospital, turned out to be false, and she quickly took down her post and issued an apology. “Apologies for my previous post, which has been troubling residents of Balikpapan,” she wrote.
But panic had already been sown. Residents rushed to get masks to protect themselves after reading the post. Kazahra was detained by the police on Monday for allegedly spreading false information, which, according to the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, carries three to ten years of imprisonment.
“Maybe she meant well by warning the community. It just happened to be false information,” East Kalimantan Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Ade Yaya Suryana said.
This was not the first time that the law had implicated homemakers due to their activities on social media. Between October and November 2018, the National Police arrested seven stay-at-home mothers for allegedly spreading various pieces of false information – from airplane accidents to child kidnappings. None of the women created the false information; they only shared it.
Since it was first passed in 2008, the ITE Law is controversial as it has been used to jail more than 300 internet users, according to the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet).
As of last year, the group recorded that there had been 475 criminal cases filed based on violations of the law. Perpetrators were mostly charged for defamation, hate speech and spreading hoaxes and false news.
