Facebook Becomes Social Media With The Most Hoax Issues Ahead Of The Election

The Ministry of Communication and Informatics' press conference regarding the Election hoax (photo: the Kemkominfo youtube screenshot)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has revealed the latest data regarding the handling of the spread of hoax issues on social media ahead of the 2024 General Election (Pemilu).

In the period January 2023 to October 26, 2023, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics has identified a total of 101 hoax issues circulating. Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi said that this number had increased ten times compared to 2022.

"Throughout 2022, there were only 10 election hoaxes, but throughout January 2023 to October 26, 2023 there were 91 election hoax issues. This means that there has been an increase of almost 10 times the hoax issue compared to last year," Budi said in a press conference on Friday, October 27.

In addition, Budi also said that Kominfo had followed up on 378 hoax content, out of a total of 526 hoax content submitted for takedown on social media.

From this data, Facebook is the social media that most hoax content is found, namely with 455 content submitted. Of this amount, Kominfo has taken down 332 content.

According to Budi, one of the reasons why many hoax content is found related to elections on Facebook is because Facebook is the most widely used social media in Indonesia.

"Yes, he has the most users in Indonesia. Oh yes, because Facebook is from our data Facebook is the social media that is most widely used in Indonesia and its history is always used for political campaigns. Like that," explained Budi.

From this data, the total number of hoax content on TikTok is 25 content, Snack Video and YouTube 17 content, Twitter 11 content, and Instagram 1 content.

Budi also stated that this condition should be a common concern. The reason is, the existence of hoaxes regarding elections not only reduces the quality of democracy but has the potential to divide the nation.