TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII) said that the case involving the data breach of 50 million Facebook users could be used as a momentum for the emergence of an Indonesian social media alternative.

“The Indonesian society should not just merely be users,” said APJII spokesman Tedi Supardi Muslih in a press release on Monday, April 2.

According to an APJII poll, Indonesia’s internet users in 2017 were recorded to be 143 million people from a total of 262 million Indonesian citizens. Most of these people utilize the internet to interact through social media.

According to Tedi, Indonesia’s internet growth throughout 2017 showed that half of its users or 49.52 percent were millennials, which was spread across the country.

“With the large customer potential like that, there should be a social media that is characteristically Indonesian,” said Tedi. He also referred to China that he sees has succeeded in the internet realm by introducing social media such as Baidu, Weibo, and Wechat.

Digital forensic expert Rubi Alamsyah shared the same sentiment as Tedi, stating that the private data protection law must be prioritized by the Indonesian government and every cyber stakeholder.

Tedi also said that Facebook’s data breach should be a harsh lesson and reminder on private data security. It is also why he urged for the private data protection draft law to be included in the national legislation program.

M YUSUF MANURUNG