The ministry launched the activity along with two government institutions and two private organizations. The two government institutions comprise the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and SiBerkreasi Digital Literacy National Movement under the ministry's umbrella.
"Digital literacy is basic knowledge that the people should have, especially ahead of the General Election," Director General for Informatics Application at the Ministry Semuel A. Pangerapan noted through a statement issued on Friday.
"To this end, we need to develop a shield to repel hoaxes with digital literacy, critical thinking, and fact-checking," he added.
This workshop began in Ternate on July 11 before continuing to Manado, Jakarta, Bandung, Samarinda, Pekanbaru, Jayapura, and Kupang and will be held from July to October 2023.
These cities encompass regions with high-level risks according to the General Election Vulnerability Index (IKP) and 2024 election formulated by Bawaslu.
The workshop will be attended by local figures, religious figures, General Election volunteers, and student representatives.
This series of activities is intended to reach 800 public figures in eight cities, empowering them to educate several voters through their respective communities.
This workshop encompasses methods that the people can use to identify misinformation in instant messaging applications, features in messaging applications to verify information, and prevent the spread of messages that urged its readers to forward it numerous times.
It also teaches message forwarding limit, blocking option, and reporting suspicious messages.
"To strengthen Pemilu violation and dispute prevention, we cooperate with WhatsApp, Kominfo, ICT Watch, and SiBerkreasi to reach the broader public through digital literacy workshop and educational materials," member of Bawaslu Lolly Suhenty remarked.
"We expect that the people's critical thinking will improve and they can then identify and fight against misinformation surrounding the General Election," Suhenty added.
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Translator: Lifia M P, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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