Thousands Of Hoaxes Of COVID-19 Are Still Circulating On Social Media

Menkominfo Johnny G Plate (doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Communication and Informatics has collected more than a thousand hoax content and misinformation about the new corona virus (COVID-19) during the pandemic in Indonesia. Where this news often causes misunderstanding in the community.

"This has created a misunderstanding of how we deal with COVID-19," said the Secretary General of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo), Rosarita Niken Widiastuti, as quoted by Antara, Friday, September 18.

Kominfo data as of August 5, there are 1,016 hoaxes related to COVID-19. Kominfo is also concerned that misleading information about the corona virus and the COVID-19 disease could have a fatal impact on health, as well as other aspects of life.

The Expert Staff of the Minister of Communication and Information in the field of law, Henri Subiakto, stated that in this pandemic era, the community was not only dealing with the corona virus, but also infodemics, excessive information about something, in this case COVID-19. For this reason, digital literacy needs to be improved so that people have the skills to absorb information, including how to check facts (fact checking).

In recent years, Kominfo has used the assistance of scavenging machines to track hoax content and misinformation news circulating in cyberspace. After verifying and validating facts, content labeled as hoax or misinformation will be published on the official website of Kominfo which includes articles about correct information.

With regard to law enforcement regarding hoax cases, the ministry is working with the police for individuals who spread hoaxes. As for content, Kominfo will ask the platform organizers to remove hoax indicated content.