Certainly, the
hoax or fake news phenomena in social media is not exclusive nor new in
Indonesia. But when it comes to nationwide impact of those hoaxes, they are.
This piece argues that recent hoax with nationwide impact have brought
Indonesia to an age of browsing dangerously.
The fresh memory of smear campaign
utilizing hoax flying around social media in Indonesia during the 2014 presidential
election would be prime example. Since those smear campaign often provokes
horizontal conflicts such as race division and intolerance. Topics that go
against Indonesia’s proud value of unity in diversity (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika).
State of Hoax Emergency
After the 2014
election is over, one expected the smear campaign through hoaxes to stop.
Unfortunately, that is not the case in Indonesia. Even more unfortunate is
those hoaxes have evolve being more creative and compelling in their
presentation and narrative.
But make no mistake, they are still hoax, meaning
they are false and often preposterous. We learn from the Indonesia Ministry of
Communication and Informatics data, there are at least 800.000 Indonesian
websites participating in disseminating hoax. It should be noted that not all
those websites have ill intention.
