Realizing High Negative Content Potential On Social Media, Bawaslu Collaborates With TikTok To Face The 2024 Election

Illustration of a teenager creating content on the social media platform TikTok. (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) has highlighted the potential for various hoax, slanderous, and hate speech content to appear on social media ahead of the 2024 General Election.

Bawaslu chairman Rahmat Bagja cannot deny that social media has a high potential for exposure to negative content. During a virtual meeting with TikTok Indonesia, Rahmat hoped that TikTok could play an active role as a cooler during the democratic party.

"Campaigning on TikTok is allowed, but does not violate the rules, such as committing slander, hate speech, and hoaxes," Bagja said in a written statement, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, July 12.

Bagja emphasized that his party did not set limits for TikTok users, especially when campaigning through content on social media, as long as they did not violate campaign rules and ethics.

Meanwhile, TikTok Indonesia's Public Policy and Governmental Relations Shiella Pandji gave a positive response to the call for cooperation to combat hoaxes, slander, and hate speech in the upcoming elections.

"When it comes to slander, hate speech, hoaxes, no questioning, we are very concerned about it. We will certainly be happy to collaborate with Bawaslu to jointly fight against it in the 2024 Election," she stressed.

Sheila ensures that TikTok Indonesia will comply with applicable laws related to elections. This will be implemented in the TikTok community standards.

"We have in-house moderators who are Indonesian citizens who have knowledge of Indonesia, understand the law in Indonesia. So, even though we are a global platform, related to legal issues, our community standards refer to the laws of the local country," she said.

Bawaslu member Lolly Suhenty will soon submit a cooperation implementation plan and a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Bawaslu and TikTok Indonesia.

"We will make an MoU for general cooperation matters. After that, we will make a cooperation agreement to regulate technical matters," she concluded.