By: Muhammad Iman)*
Worried…… Maybe that is the most suitable word to illustrate the current social media conditions. Everyday I can find thousands of hoax in my social media timeline without me even try to do any effort. Controversial titles attract me to read them, but mostly inside them are made based on no evidence.
Lately, hoax became trending topic in public. From lay ordinary people until high profile political elite, they all talk about it. Hoax also used for many times as political instrument to jack up political candidate electability and overturn their competitor. This phenomenon has been visible since presidential election on 2014, moreover because of the support from information and technology development.
Hoax is not a negligible game. Hoax that is distributed on public was able to put one another down. Public’s perspective has been blurred on judging which one is right or wrong. Striking each other on social media is keep taking place and becoming a never ending debate. Then, should we being in this condition until forever?
The power of hoaxes actually lies on their readers themselves. Sometimes someone share hoax a moment after read its controversial title without inspect its content first. Finally, that news has become a trending topic because of being discussed in many places, although its validity is still doubted. Therefore, every single person should have a filter towards information and news floated on social media.
The government seems have think about this problem far away before everything has happened. The most complex action to overcome hoax has been taken by revising Information and Electrical Transaction Act. The disclosed of Saracen syndicate is a prove that the government seriously willing to eradicate hoax in Indonesia. Government through Kemkominfo has also planned an anti-hoax movement to engage public participation as social media user. However, it won’t be enough, the awareness from every single person is the main key to minimalize or even eradicate hoax.
Actually, anti-hoax movement can be initiated from a single person movement. The first thing that must be noticed to make sure that we are inedible by hoax is by watching out for provocative news. Try to find other reference from other media as a comparison. The second thing that we should do is aware of the website’s address. It’s better to take news from a valid or undoubted website. The third thing is to check the fact written on that news. Get used to check, recheck, and cross-check any information you got. The fourth thing is to check the originality of the photograph used on the news. Many hoax enlisted edited photograph to convince the reader. The fifth thing is to join any anti-hoax discussion group. This group was intended as a media to share any knowledge related to hoax. The last but not least, we can report the hoax that we find to Kemenkominfo by sending e-mail to aduankonten@mail.kominfo.go.id.
Be wise when receiving news or information on social media. Don’t want to be fooled by low quality hoax. Wise people will not think only about themself, so that they will re-authenticate any news they received before forward it to others. Hoax should be overcome to maintain our nation’s unity.
)* The author is CIDISS contributor