Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Presidential Communication Office (PSO) has highlighted how fact-checking can play a crucial role in dispelling disinformation, hoaxes, and hate speech and ensuring people have access to facts.During the “PCO Goes to Campus” event here on Monday, head of the PCO, Hasan Nasbi, said that at a time when people are bombarded with information, fact-checking can build public awareness about what is real and what is not.
“The government cannot do this by itself because there are hundreds of millions (spreading hoaxes). People are needed, (so are) communities who are aware that hoaxes are prohibited, hoaxes destroy a nation,” he stressed.
He said that everyone must focus on digital literacy by building skills such as critical thinking, managing their emotions, and educating themselves so that they can evaluate information properly.
Hoaxes are like pests that decimate fields, he said. One pest would not compromise the yield much, but if many plague the field, all the farmer’s hard work would get wasted.
“So are the objective truths, (they) will be all gone if hoaxes are left unchecked, given there are hundreds of millions doing this,” he added.
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Hence, he urged the media, government institutions, and communities to carry out fact-checks. Although fact-checking can upset people, particularly those spreading hoaxes, it is necessary to preserve national peace.
Meanwhile, Al Azhar Indonesia University rector, Asep Saifuddin, commended the PCO’s initiative to educate university students about the role of digital literacy in dispelling hoaxes and hate speech.
“Not all information is useful. There are hoaxes, fake news. Digital literacy is important to differentiate (truth) from hoaxes that can endanger us and the public,” he stressed.
He described the PCO as an integral part of the government’s information dissemination apparatus that ensures people do not fall for fake information.
