Ever since humans invented the alphabet and literacy skills improved, information has become essential to life. Like a double-edged knife, information can provide positive value benefits through proportionate factual references or, conversely, create dilemmas, anxiety, fear, tension, or stress through data deception. Both can be deliberately designed to equip the recipient before they can decide and determine an attitude. Before we know it, information has become a commodity. It is valuable and political to exchange.

One technique to encourage the recipient of information in the decision-making process is to highlight the contrast between two subjects or consistently compare options. This method is controversially conducted by promoting the flaws and vices of the other option through various means.

This technique has been very clearly used in politics over the last five years. Communication campaigns have become an activity that is deliberately designed to ‘nurture hatred’ towards the opposing party, which is considered an ‘opponent of life’ rather than just a contestant in the league for leadership. Member of the Press Council, Imam Wahyudi, on one occasion, even explicitly said, “The main motive for the production of hate speech and disinformation is solely political.” This trend is happening not only in Indonesia but worldwide – as in the United States, which is now regretting it – and has reached a point where it is increasingly difficult to control or reverse.

Digital Revolution Fertilizes Hate Speech, Hoax, and Disinformation

The digital revolution has catalyzed this. People can now easily share experiences and opinions among groups. Information is adopted online very quickly, with extensive utilization of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The spread of hate speech and disinformation, primarily on online platforms through social media and messaging services, has become unstoppable and of growing concern. The impetus for angry and violent, abusive and shaming behavior, as well as the widespread dissemination of hoaxes or other forms of disinformation, has increased significantly over the past few years. This trend has become a challenge at the state level and is now a security priority.

The Indonesian National Police stated that the spread of hoaxes from real, semi-anonymous, and anonymous social media accounts from mid-2017 to December 2018 amounted to 3,884 contents – of which more than half came from the number of reports in 2018. The spread of hoax content and hate speech was carried out by 643 real accounts, 702 semi-anonymous accounts, and 2,533 anonymous accounts. The anonymous accounts increased by 100 percent in 2018 compared to 733 in 2017.

The growing number of cases implies that a new social disease is spreading related to information management, namely, the dullness of guilt and moral responsibility in creating false information, the ease of spreading information without verification, and the leniency in adding non-constructive comments. Citizens are left adrift and need help to recognize valid information. Finally, this validates that we have all entered the post-truth era, where individuals only believe whatever information they want to believe.

The Long Journey of Indonesia

In Indonesia, several initiatives have been implemented to respond to the above challenges through preventive measures, law enforcement, preparation of response narratives, public education campaigns on safe internet, and positive utilization of online and offline media.

According to the Indonesian National Police and the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, people who spread false information, hoaxes, or hate speech in cyberspace, causing social conflicts, will be subject to favorable (current) laws. They may be subject to one of the Criminal Code (KUHP) articles or other laws outside the KUHP. The relevant regulations are Law No.11/2008 on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) and Law No.40/2008 on the Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination.

According to Indonesian authorities, hate speech includes insults, defamation, blasphemy, unpleasant actions, provoking, inciting, and spreading false news, which usually aims to provoke and ignite hatred against individuals and community groups, among others, by sharpening differences in ethnicity, religion, religious sects, beliefs/beliefs, race, intergroup, skin color, ethnicity, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. This hate speech can be carried out through campaign speeches, banners, social media networks, public expressions of opinion, religious lectures, print and electronic mass media, and pamphlets.

However, the Indonesian government’s efforts are considered insufficient, given that issues and technology are developing rapidly – beyond the speed at which policy formulation or strengthening of general norms is possible. More strategic preventive measures are needed.

Indonesia could form a commission of high-level experts with different backgrounds to provide input into the government’s policy initiatives and programs on hate speech and disinformation. The commission must work earnestly and integrate over time to recommend a multidimensional approach based on interrelated and mutually reinforcing public responses.

On the other hand, Indonesia can strengthen the regulatory tools for information production and transaction in a comprehensive and applicable manner by engaging with social media companies, such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, or Microsoft, and ‘forcing’ them to implement stricter protocols in countering hate speech and disinformation. For example, they can provide transparent information about the algorithms they use to serve up information, strengthen mechanisms to suppress news with critical words that contain hate speech, ensure quick reactions to public reports (e.g., removing news reported by the public under 24 hours), and develop community guidelines that prohibit the promotion or encouragement of hate speech and disinformation.

This effort is not easy and not short-term, but it is not impossible to do. Cooperation between parties, including the proactive and introspective attitude of practicing communication professionals such as ID COMM, can accelerate us to provide correct, precise information and positively educate the public to ‘maintain peace”.

Author: Sari Soegondo, Communication Practitioner and Founder of ID COMM