TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Annus horribilis. This was a horrible year for the spread of hoax reports. The government needs to respond seriously to this problem, because the destructive power of false reports has become increasingly worrying. Prejudice, provocation, hatred and mistrust are entering into people's personal lives. This bogus information is easily spread on social media.
The eerie effects of such fake reports can be seen in at least two instances in this nation. The first was the burning of a Buddhist temple and pagoda in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, in July. Locals quickly formed an angry mob, following a provocative report on social media. The second occurrence was in Depok, West Java, in the middle of December last year. Two people were killed and one seriously injured as a result of a brawl sparked by unconfirmed reports.
There is nothing new about this torrent of bogus information. During the 2014 presidential election campaign, Joko Widodo was reported as being descended from a member of the banned Communist Party of Indonesia. Even after he was elected, this fake report continued to appear. Rumors ranged from Obama walking out on Jokowi when he spoke at an international forum, to the firing of the Indonesian Military (TNI) commander, calls for people to withdraw cash from ATMs and the exaggeration of workers flooding in from China.
There are a few ways of looking at this persistent flow of hoax reports. Technological advances, the social media revolution and the improving quality of the Internet make it easier for everyone to access and produce information. This flood of information, unfortunately, is not balanced by an improvement in critical thinking. As a result, many people are easily angered by provocative headlines, who then share these bogus reports without really checking out the content. Such people are known as clicking monkeys, like the animals who like to throw bananas in all directions.
Another reason for the rise in hoax reports is the growth in mistrust of the mainstream media. There is a perception that the major media, mostly owned by tycoons, is no longer independent because it is rife with business and political interests.
People who think in this way, unfortunately turn to websites that publish hoax reports. The result is an environment filled with agitative messages.
In general, there are two major groups who spin these false reports. First, there are private accounts and sites affiliated with political parties. They persistently "cook" the news for the benefit of the organizations they represent. Among this group are Portal Piyungan (initially named PKS Piyungan), VOA Islam and Era Islam, which have been blocked by the Communication and Informatics Ministry. World Traffic data shows that before it was blocked, the Piyungan website attracted 300,000 visitors daily. It netted advertising revenue of US$100 per day, US$36,500 per year or Rp485 million per year.
The second group are websites designed as profit-making entities. Posmetro, Nusanews and NBCIndonesia belong to this group. They have been blocked by the government based on Communication and Informatics Ministerial Regulation No. 19/2004 on a Healthy Internet. This type of website mixes fact and fiction, and adds provocative titles and opinions. Research carried out by the Anti-Hoax Research Community shows that such sites can bring in tempting advertising revenues of Rp600 million to 700 million per year.
This is not just an Indonesian phenomenon. Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election is believed to be linked to large-scale misinformation. In the days leading up to the November 8 vote, there were reports that the Pope supported Trump. Then there was a rumor that an FBI agent investigating the leak of Hillary Clinton's e-mails had been murdered. There was no truth in either report, but millions of people shared them on Facebook and Twitter. It turned out that the hoax reports had been produced by teens in Macedonia in order to make money from the advertising.
The temptation of these advertising revenues lure more than a few owners of private accounts and websites to play around with the facts. The international community has strongly condemned Facebook and Google AdSense, which allow fake news to poison public life. Facebook has responded to this criticism by launching a software to detect hoax reports. The German government has even fined Facebook the equivalent of Rp7 billion for every hoax story shared on its site.
We too are starting to take action against the wave of false reports. Several campaigns have begun, such as education and media literacy improvement, anti-hoax groups and websites that help check the validity of reports. It is important that we support these anti hoax-news campaigns.
But movements alone are not enough. The government must try harder to clear away this fog of misinformation. There must be consistency. We must not have a situation where five sites are blocked, but dozens others are allowed to flourish. If necessary, the government would be wise to consider the German example, and slap massive fines on social media platforms that spread hoax reports. (*)
Read the full story in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine
