Anti-Hoax Movement Evokes Pros and Cons: Expert

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The anti-hoax movement was found to evoke pros and cons among the Internet users, Ismail Kahmi, an Indonesian expert of information science from University of Groningen noted.

The movement was declared by a group of cyber activists and social media users in Indonesia.

He said that the Indonesian Hoax Busters (IHB) community's simultaneous declaration in several cities on January 8, triggered by the positive coverage in some mainstream media, received positive reaction from Internet and Twitter users.

The following day, some arguments came up countering the movement's mission, saying that the movement was filled with people who actually spread false news or were motivated by certain political interest.

"There was distrust because there was no interaction or channel between the busters and people who were not," Kahmi said in a discussion here on Tuesday.

Interestingly, despite the difference in opinion on who was actually spreading the hoax, the opposing group was also interested in countering the false news.

According to Kahmi, such a phenomenon remained the biggest challenge faced by the anti-hoax movement.

"The movement has to be welcomed by everyone in the society, both by the supporters and opposition," said the founder of PT Media Kernels Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Rudi Sukandar, researcher at the Habibie Center, stated that the difference in opinion among the society regarding the anti-hoax movement was caused by the preference to interact with certain group of people and the confirmation bias or tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

"People will tend to stick to the media whose stories contain the same point of view as theirs," the communication and media specialist noted.

In early January, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that people were the best filters of slanderous news circulating in a number of social media.

Jokowi stated that hoax news could spread speedily and produce rumors.

"Those who produce the false news are faster than those who control them. And the only good thing regarding this is the people themselves," Jokowi added.

According to Jokowi, the people play an important role in filtering the spread of provocation and hostility in the social media.

Hate expression should also be countered with politeness and provocation with good character, he noted. (WDY)