Spread of Hoaxes Increases Ahead of 2019 Elections

Ministry of Communication and Informatics has recorded that the spread of hoaxes, false information, and hate speech significantly increases ahead of the General Elections on 17 April 2019.

“There were only 25 hoaxes which have been identified in August 2018, the number increased to 27 in September 2018, 53 hoaxes and 63 hoaxes in October and November 2018 respectively. Meanwhile, in December 2018, the number of hoaxes increased to 75 contents,” the Ministry’s Acting Head of Public Relations Bureau Ferdinandus Setu said in a press release on Monday (1/4).

According to Ferdinandus, there has been a very significant increase of hoaxes and false information spread in January and February 2019. “A total of 175 hoax contents were successfully identified by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics AIS Team cyber patrol in January. “The figure doubled to 353 in February 2019 and increased to 453 hoaxes in March,” he said.

He went on to say that out of 453 hoaxes, most of them related to politics, while the remaining related to health issues, the government, slander against certain individuals, crime, religious issues, international issues, fraud, trade, and education issues.

“Out of 453 hoaxes, 130 hoaxes are related to politics. Thus, the total of political hoaxes which have been identified and verified so far by the Ministry increased to 311 hoaxes. The hoaxes included false information about presidential and vice presidential candidates, as well as polical parties participating in the upcoming elections, and the organization of the elections,” Ferdinandus firmly said.

For the record, the AIS Team was established by Minister of Communication and Informatics Rudiantara in January 2018 to filter, verify, and validate all contents on Indonesian cyberspace, including contents containing hoaxes, terrorism, radicalism, pornography, gambling, and other negative contents. To date, there are 100 AIS Team members who are supported by AIS machine that runs 24/7 in carrying on their tasks.

“The Ministry of Communication and Informatics urged netizens who received electronic information in which the truth has been called into question to submit it to the Ministry’s complaint channel via email: aduankonten@kominfo.go.id or twitter account @aduankonten,” Ferdinandus concluded. (Ministry of Communication and Informatics’ PR/ES)

Translated by : Rany Anjany Subachrum
Edited by : Muhardi/Mia Medyana