Social Media Curbed to Prevent Spread of Provocative Contents

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Communication and Informatics Ministry (Kominfo) openly called for social media users to delete negative contents related to the May 22 protest from their social media accounts. The ministry’s fear comes down to the implications of spreading images and videos related to violence.

“All of that, he said, supplies the oxygen for violent acts and fear mongering among society,” said Kominfo Spokesman Ferdinandus Setu on Wednesday, May 22.

Kominfo made the decision to curb social media features after the past two days saw the rampant spread of negative contents in the form of videos of violence, riots, up to rehashed old videos that are spread alongside a text that contains hateful speech.

Ferdinandus called social media users to adhere to the law of any social platform and be reminded that video contents that violate the platform’s media are seen as a violation of Indonesia’s law such as Law No. 19/2016 on information and electronic transactions.

The ministry is currently backed by an AIS machine and 100 verifier members. Police are also involved in hunting down and identifying accounts that spread negative, violent, and provocative contents.

Kominfo urges all Indonesians to support the government’s attempt by reporting their findings via konten.id or its Twitter account @aduankonten.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO

Read: Gov't Limits Social Media Features to Prevent Hoax Spread