Jakarta (ANTARA) - Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi has asked Indonesians to carry out smart campaigns and not spread hoaxes in order to realize peaceful elections this year.

"Let's do campaign smartly. Highlight each pair (in terms of their strengths and weaknesses) and do not make slander or hoaxes that are far from the facts," he said at the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) Office here on Friday.

One month before voting day on February 14, 2024, Kominfo is still finding election-related hoaxes in the digital space. However, compared to the 2019 election, the number of hoaxes has been much lower.

Still, Minister Setiadi asked people to use the digital space productively and safely during the 2024 elections so that the goal of peaceful elections can be achieved.

Between January 2023 and January 2024, the ministry detected 201 hoaxes related to the 2024 election.

So far, no hoax-related content has been considered too troubling or unlawful. He said that the ministry has only taken such content down instead of reporting it to the legal authorities.

"Until now, there were no legal processes, but slander can be reported to be legally processed," he said.

If a hoax is considered unlawful, the police will handle the case.

Kominfo's efforts to handle election-related hoaxes have included receiving reports, and identifying and terminating access to content if it is found to have elements of hoaxes.

Minister Setiadi informed that his ministry took down 51 hoax content and issued 175 clarifications on disinformation during the 2024 General Election campaign period from November 28, 2023, to January 11, 2024.

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Translator: Livia K, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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