REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BATU -- The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Kemenkominfo) soon to hold a Declaration of Antihoax and Defamation society. The event will took place on Sunday (January 8) at the Car Free Day area in Jakarta.
"We'll declare it on Sunday, in the hope that the society can be more selective and more intelligent in choosing the internet content; which are hoaxes and which are facts," said the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Rudiantara, Friday.
The declaration would be conducted in Jakarta, in conjunction with Car Free Day activities. There are five other cities that will also declare the same program, namely Semarang, Solo, Surabaya, Bandung, and Wonosobo. "The idea of this declaration comes from the community and not from us (Kemenkominfo),” he said.
Rudi said, the idea comes from Antihoax and Slander Community acknowledged by the people from Yogyakarta, namely Zenk Septiadi. It represents the wishes of the people at larger society. "Therefore, we and the community will continue to encourage other communities to conduct the declaration," he said.
Besides, the communication and information technology has also been working with the media to support the declaration, especially the emerging media. "Basically, technology is neutral. But, it functions depending on the user. It can be used for positive purposes, but it can even injure people," he said.
To push this technology into positive, said Rudi, the ministry began to move and to direct the use of it from downstream to upstream. The downstream is illustrated as a way we treat a sick into a healthy person, while the upstream is like making people healthy through various approaches.
In 2017, he said, Kemenkominfo would work on many aspects of literacy. He added that the negative and problematic contents appear the community itself.
According to him, the people who deliberately throwing fake news among the society are recognizable. They are groups of people who like the unhealthy and unprogressive contents. "For sure, we will continue to encourage people to use this technology in a positive and constructive way, without being polluted with the unhealthy content, hoaxes, or slander," he said.