Bawaslu Teams Up with TikTok to Tackle Misinformation in 2024 General Elections

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bawaslu, the general election supervisory agency, inked an agreement with TikTok to safeguard the distribution of 2024 general elections information and tackle its misinformation. One of the measures provided is the special channel for accurate information on the general election.

"So far, we have found a great meeting point on the community standard. We have the agreement, so it's a matter of the flexibility to enforce the agreement in accordance with Bawaslu's inquiries to safeguard the 2024 general elections," said Bawaslu member Lolly Suhenty after signing the agreement in Jakarta on Monday, September 18, 2023.

Reflecting on the 2019 general elections, Lolly revealed that Bawaslu received 5,103 reports on infringement on social media, 193 proven to be a violation. "We pressed for these accounts to be taken down, but only 43 of them were taken down. The issue lies with unequal community standards," she said.

At the same time, Head of Public Policy and Government Relations TikTok Indonesia Firry Wahid mentioned that TikTok will support Bawalu in filtering misinformation regarding the general election by providing a special channel. 

Earlier in July, the General Elections Commission announced that 204.8 million people will participate in the 2024 general elections, with 56% of them being Gen Z and millennials. Thus, this cooperation between Bawaslu and TikTok is a strategic one.

From fact-checker to Election Hub

The measures taken by TikTok to ensure its platform's security consisted of taking down the content found to infringe its Community Guidelines and reminding the users to consider their content before uploading if proven to contain unverified information.

Users are also encouraged to contribute to tackling misinformation by reporting content containing disinformation surrounding the 2024 general elections. 

TikTok will also provide an Election Hub as the main channel to provide verified general election-related content. Later, when the users are searching for information regarding the elections, the platform will recommend they head to the Election Hub.

The platform also emphasized neutrality during the political season. TikTok prohibits political ads, including paid advertisements by its content creators.

HATTA MUARA BAGJA | TEMPO.CO

Editor's Choice: Indonesian Embassy in Seoul Holds Discussion on 2024 General Elections

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News