Used For Imaging Or Black Campaigns, Bawaslu Will Monitor Social Media During The 2024 Election

The atmosphere of the central Bawaslu during the celebration of the 492nd anniversary of DKI Jakarta. (ANTARA-Aria Cindyara)

KEPRI - Various efforts will be made by the organizers of the 2024 simultaneous general election to oversee the democratic party. The Election Supervisory Body for the Riau Islands Province (Kepri) said it would monitor social media.

A member of the Riau Islands Bawaslu, Indrawan, said that social media had begun to be used by various parties with an interest in the 2024 election, especially as a means of imaging.

"We are still monitoring the use of social media for political purposes in the general election and regional elections. This is an initial effort to map the political conditions ahead of the democratic party," he said in Tanjungpinang, Wednesday, March 30.

Indrawan ensured that social media would become an imaging tool for election participants, just like the conditions of previous democratic parties. The use of social media is considered an effective and inexpensive means of socializing oneself and the program.

But on the other hand, social media is often used for black campaigns, spreading hatred and spreading hoax information. Statements that invite offence from political opponents or other parties on social media are also of special interest so as not to cause political conflict, which has the potential to cause a bigger conflict.

This problem has forced the Riau Islands Bawaslu ranks to work hard to prevent negative things in cyberspace from happening in the real world.

"From the experience of previous elections, a lot of negative campaigns and hoax information, which were scattered, were carried out by anonymous accounts on social media," he said.

Indrawan said the anticipatory efforts carried out by the Riau Islands Bawaslu from upstream to downstream. At the upstream level, members of the Riau Islands Bawaslu and their staff carried out mapping, which was then continued to work with various competent parties to prevent conflicts from occurring, starting from the virtual world.

Prevention is carried out, among others, by conducting socialization to election participants and community groups related to the Election Law, the Election Law and the Electronic Transaction Information Law.

The Riau Islands Bawaslu invites all parties to jointly prevent political conflicts and support the implementation of democratic parties. "At the downstream level, we are taking preventive measures, including taking action," he said.