Bawaslu Collaborates With TikTok To Eradicate Hoaxes And Slander Ahead Of The 2024 General Election

Head of Bawaslu Rahmat Bagja (left) together with Head of Public Policy & Government Relations TikTok Indonesia Firry Wahid (right) showed the MoU that had been signed at the Bawaslu Office, Jakarta, Monday (18/9/2023). (ANTARA/Hendri Sukma Indrawan)

JAKARTA - The Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) signed a memorandum of understanding and agreement (MoU) with social media platform TikTok in an effort to prevent the spread of hoaxes ahead of the 2024 General Election. "Alhamdulillah, we can gather this afternoon to witness the signing (MoU). This is the first time for TikTok, to realize a healthy election. Healthy elections without hoaxes without slander, without having to bully people or anyone who advances in election contestation," said Bawaslu Chairman Rahmat Bagja in his remarks at the signing of the MoU at the Bawaslu Office, Central Jakarta, Monday, September 18, were confiscated by Antara. Bagja said that this MoU is one of the risk mitigating the spread of hoax information that was rampant in social media in the 2019 election. "Now with such mitigation we hope that with TikTok and several platforms that will cooperate with Bawaslu, we will increase an election that is more argumentative, more plausible," he said.

Bagja hopes that the social media platform TikTok can present election information or educational content that provides referrals for voters to seek information about elections without hoaxes, without slander based on ethnicity, religion and race. "We expect TikTok to cooperate with other social media to create social media channels that are the reference for friends, especially voters, both novice voters and young voters," he said.

Meanwhile, Tiktok Indonesia's Head of Public Policy and Government Relations, Firry Wahid said the signing of the MoU was a form of TikTok's commitment to encouraging elections with integrity. He also said that TikTok would help educate voters about elections. "We provide a special channel for Bawaslu to help fight the dissemination of misinformation content around elections on our platform during the 2024 election period, there will be a special channel for Bawaslu that can convey public complaints regarding the missing information," he said.