Ministry Of Communication And Informatics Take Down 1,759 Hoaxes On COVID-19

Menkominfo Johnny G Plate (Doc. Kominfo)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kemenkominfo) blocked or took down 1,759 hoax content that raised issues regarding COVID-19 on social media.

Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Jhonny G. Plate said that thousands of hoaxes exist on four digital platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.

"The content that has been taken down or blocked is 1,759. In details, there are 1,300 on Facebook, 15 on Instagram, 424 on Twitter, and 20 on YouTube," said Jhonny in a webinar discussion on Sunday, October 18.

In total, 2,020 content has been declared hoax, concerning 1,197 forms of issues regarding COVID-19. A total of 1,759 have been blocked, while 261 are in the process of being blocked.

"There are still 261 cash in the blocking process, namely 197 content on Facebook, 5 on Instagram, 58 on Twitter, and 1 on Youtube," said the NasDem Party politician.

He continued, until now there have been 104 people or account owners who have become suspects for producing or spreading hoaxes.

"As many as 17 of them have been detained at the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police and the local Polda. We and the National Police work on patrols (hoax content) a day 24 hours. There are shifts for seven days," he said.

Jhonny admitted that he had coordinated with social media platform owners or executives regarding hoax content regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Finally, I spoke with the CEO of YouTube, who gave a strong commitment to jointly tackle COVID-19 in the digital space about hoaxes in Indonesia," he added.