Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has sent letters to Facebook and Twitter inviting them to discuss the issue of hoax news on these two social media platforms.

"They have received the letters we have sent to them. The time is still being fixed but it will be done soon hopefully at the end of January or early in February," Director General of Applications and Informatics of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics Samuel Abrijani Pangerapan said here Monday.

The issue has also been a problem faced by the two social media companies, he said. In view of that, they would respond positively to the invitation, he believed.

"This is also their issue and they also need help, so they would certainly be happy to receive help. If their networks are full of hoax stories certainly they also would not like it, would they?" he asked.

His office had been inspired by reports about Germanys efforts to tackle hoax news on Facebook, Samuel said.

The German government announced that it would fine Facebook up to 500,000 euro for every hoax story spread on the platform, according to the report.

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter must be responsible for hoax stories spreading through their platforms, which is in line with the law on information and electronic transactions (UU ITE), he stated.

His office would produce a regulation to deal with hoax stories on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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