REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Communication and Informatics Ministry has shut down a fake Instagram account illegally using the name of the Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI), whose contents threatened leftists. The fake Instagram account was called @tni_indonesia_update, the ministry revealed in its press statement made available to Antara here on Thursday.
The fake social media account proliferated hate speeches and threats that the account creator would "crush" leftists with critical thoughts and those alleged to be members of the new generation of the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). The Indonesian Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Candra Wijaya told the Communication and Informatics Ministry's officials that the Instagram account of @tni_indonesia_update did not belong to the Indonesian Army.
The army's official Instagram account is @tni_angkatan_darat. Regarding this issue, the TNI headquarters had officially asked the ministry to take down all social media accounts illegally using the name of the TNI on Feb 6.
In connection with this request, the Communication and Informatics Ministry has urged internet users to report fake social media accounts or those containing fake news, slander, and hate speech to Twitter @aduankonten, and website aduankonten.id. The internet users may also report them by sending WhatsApp messages to the phone number 08119224545.
The proliferation of fake social media accounts and spread of fake news, hate speech, and slander has obviously become a serious problem in the wake of this year's parliamentary and presidential elections. In combating the spread of fake news and information on the 2019 Presidential Election, the East Java police cyber crime unit, for instance, has shut down several thousand social media accounts.
"We have shut down thousands of social media accounts, including those from the platforms of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as they spread hoaxes," the East Java Police spokesman, Sen. Coms. Frans Barung Mangera, revealed.
On Jan 3 alone, the cyber crime unit personnel had taken down 32 social media accounts to halt the massive proliferation of hoaxes that are feared to affect those receiving the fake news.
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