TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Communications and Information Technology Ministry said regulations alone are not enough to monitor the ethics of using social media. The ministry said there has to be social settlement efforts as well.
"Hoaxes and negative contents, as well as negative persuasions by means of social media cannot be settled with a regulatory approach alone. Social approaches are also necessary," Minister of Communications and Information Technology Rudiantara said in Jakarta, Tuesday, November 29.
"Communications and Information Technology has blocked nearly 770 thousand content on the Internet, but it was not enough," Rudiantara said.
A revision of Law No. 11/2008 on Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) was officially enacted on Monday, November 28, 2016. One of the important points in the revision is the government's authority to block or cut off public access to unlawful electronic information; including social media accounts that spread negative content.
"Blocking [negative websites] all the time is tiresome. Reporters also keep asking how many hundreds of thousands of sites we have blocked," Rudiantara said. Therefore, he said, the Ministry is appealing to sociologists and humanists to jointly create an ethical guideline in using social media.
Rudiantara said this guide will contain more than suggestions. In the future, the government will also focus on the upstream, not only the downstream. "The upstream aspect is more important; which is to educate the public," Rudiantara said.
FAJAR PEBRIANTO | ERWIN Z
