Let's Take A Peek At Google's Initiatives In Fighting Disinformation In Indonesia

Indonesia is the country with the most Hoax searches (photo: Google)

JAKARTA - Welcoming International Fact Check Day which falls on April 2, Google revealed that so far, Indonesia is the top country in the world in tracing hoaxes during 2023.

In addition, research interest in disinformation in 2022 in Indonesia has also reached an all-time high, which is an increase of 90 percent between 2021 and 2022. Not only that, but research interest in scams has also reached the highest all-time figure in Indonesia.

Google has also launched efforts to combat disinformation around the world, including:

Fighting misinformation through products, programs, and partnerships

Google is investing heavily in resistance to efforts aimed at cheating, harming, and utilizing users, as well as minimizing the spread of low-quality information. For this reason, Google raises credible and quality news ratings in search results, so users will be exposed to established and reputational sources.

Prevent irresponsible parties from protecting users

Google has published a YouTube Community Guideline Enforcement Transparency Report which revealed that between January and September 2022, the search giant has removed more than 1.2 million videos in Indonesia.

In ad Security reports, Google has also blocked or removed more than 5.2 billion ads worldwide for violating our policy by 2022 which is equivalent to 9,000 ads per minute.

Empowering users with media context and literacy

In addition, Google is also partnering with media literacy experts to design workshops that can detect disinformation. For example, at the end of 2022, YouTube launched the media literacy program Pause Dulu in Indonesia.

One of Google.org's programs, namely Tular Narar, has trained 1,400 lecturers and 6,000 teachers over the past two years. Meanwhile, the ASEAN Digital Literacy Programmer, with the help of the Common Room Network Foundation, Ruangguru Foundation, and Fatih Annur Foundation in Indonesia, provides young people, the elderly, and women who are less served with online security skills and media literacy.

Support quality journalism and partnering with the news ecosystem

More than that, Goo also supports quality journalism through the Google News Initiative and collaborates with the news ecosystem as a whole including journalists, fact-checking, and researchers in order to produce quality coverage and fight misinformation.

Partnering with AJI, Google launched the GNI Indonesia Training Network in 2018. As of December 2022, this network has trained 36,901 journalists and journalism students, reaching 568 media and 175 universities nationally.

"We are granting 11.6 billion rupiah to CekFakta in 2022 to develop this coalition into 300 outlets and media organizations. To date, CekFakta has produced more than 10,000 verified articles," said Google.

Continue to be alert to new and responsive threats to developments

At the end of last year, Google launched the Internet Lab Safer through a partnership with CSIS to encourage innovation through research and policy discussions to find new ways to fight misinformation. Google is also working with Jwiggers on pre-bunking attempts, or educating people about the tactics used to spread misleading information.