Communication Minister: Hoax is Like Corruption, Fight It!

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Communication and Technology Minister Rudiantara said that the growing number of hoaxes in the society is due to the lack of trust towards public media or mainstream media, especially printed media.

"Since information in printed press is perceived as not true, a lot of people seek information on their own and even create their own information and claim it as if it were true," Rudiantara told around two husand students attending Indonesia college students Jamboree in Cibubur Camping Ground on Saturday (02/04).

Rudiantara said that such information might not be true since it cannot be validated."That’s hoax. It is deception, it is comparable to corrupting information. So we need to fight against it," he added.

He explained that the government has the authority to block such information; yet it is deemed inefective. He said that there are around 800 thousand sites blocked by the government. Not all of them contain hoax, 90 percent of them contain pornography and the rest contain gambling, fraud, and illegal medicine and food.

Among those sites, there are sites providing hoax, but not as many as pornography. "I am sure that most Indonesians know that websites with XXX sign corrupt the nation’s morale," he said.

REZKI ALVIONITASARI