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Fighting false information: Why it is so important
Many elderly people remain hesitant about receiving vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 because of hoaxes and fake news.
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A viral tweet containing a WhatsApp message supposedly proving a hospital forced someone healthy to stay. It has since been proven false. (Twitter/Courtesy of @anjarisme Twitter account)
D
ecades ago, literacy campaigns taught people how to read and write. Literacy is more crucial now than ever as we are embracing a digital world, where information flows en masse from online sources or social media platforms.
People need digital literacy to know about the particular risks of the digital world and to learn how to evaluate information. But why is this so important?
One of the answers came out of the virtual celebration of the 2022 National Press Day (HPN) at Bogor Palace, West Java, on Feb. 9, during which President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo expressed his deep concern about new digital technologies, which he said had disrupted the national press industry.
In the last two years, he said, the industry had suffered from severe pressures, which came not only from the COVID-19 pandemic but also digital disruptions. Foreign digital giants have seized the market of mainstream news media and, even worse, weakened the influence of the media on society, according to the President.
A drastic change in the landscape of media competition in Indonesia has led to various complicated problems that need to be addressed, Jokowi further asserted. The rise of alternative information sources, rampant fake news and disinformation and people’s growing appetite for information trends heavily relying on clickbait headlines and webpage views have dealt a devastating blow to the national press industry. False information spread on social media is sowing confusion and has polarized society, according to Jokowi.
Not only in Indonesia, this situation also occurs in many other places around the world. All political systems, especially democracies, count on journalists for credible information. But fake news and disinformation now pose a challenge to the press.
False information can go viral quickly and easily, caused by technology that has fundamentally changed the way we communicate. Any ordinary person can now act as a broadcaster. On social media, they can easily take it for granted and share false information with their friends.
