President Jokowi said here on Sunday that hoax news could spread speedily and produce a rumor. "Those who produce are faster then those who control them. And the only good thing for this is the people themselves," Jokowi said.
He said that religious leaders and their students can propagate how to behave with good manners. The people can play an important role in filtering the spread of provocation and hostility in the social media.
The President also called on Islamic boarding school students to help promote politeness and good characters in the face of indecent words and manners.
"Hate expression should be countered with politeness and provocation with good characters. These should be done so that the good will dominate the bad," Jokowi said.
In the meantime, the Jakarta metropolitan police has intensified cyber patrols in hunt for social media accounts spreading sensitive issues (SARA) and false information or libels to provoke public conflicts.
"Many cases have been uncovered," head of sub-directorate of Cyber Crime of Directorate of Special Crimes of Jakarta Police Adj. Sr.Com. Roberto Pasaribu said last month.
Roberto said policy are tightening control of social media as well as on-line media suspected of spreading misleading information.
Police also could take legal action against or to block social media accounts found to spread false information, he said.
He said police have identified around 300 social media or on-line media accounts spreading false information in the country and abroad.
"There are hundreds of social media accounts already blocked," he said.
He acknowledged police found difficulty in taking legal action against those responsible for spreading false information as they use false accounts.
President Joko Widodo has held a limited cabinet meeting to discuss the rampant social media and on-line media which spread hoaxes and libels.
The president wanted law enforcement against owners of social media and on-line media accounts spreading libels, hoaxes and SARA to provoke conflicts.(WDY)
