TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A special staffer of Communication and Informatics Ministry (Kominfo), Devie Rahmawati, in an event held virtually on Tuesday revealed the serious effect of a hoax in the society. She argued that hoaxes are one of the problems that will likely exist until the end of time.

“There are three issues caused by a hoax, namely social unrest, political conflict, and economic losses,” said the sociology expert from the University of Indonesia (UI) on October 5.

Real life examples of public unrest caused by hoaxes, she explained, happened in Papua’s Yahukimo district, where it took people's lives. Meanwhile, the political effects of a hoax was evident in the past Presidential and Vice Presidential election which sparked political conflict.

“In the 2019 election, six people died and 200 people injured because of a hoax,” she said, emphasizing that the spread of false information has killed people.

In terms of economic losses, Devie cited data sourced from the Financial Services Authorities (OJK) that logged Rp114 trillion losses due to hoaxes. “All that money is because of a hoax, which is not the State’s money but the people’s money,” she said.

Kominfo, according to Devie, has set a number of ways to prevent the spread of hoax from building the needed infrastructure up to raising people’s awareness and knowledge about false information.

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