#AFStory The Truth Crisis in Hoax Fog

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Some time ago in the year 2017 was crowded in the community, especially in the media coverage, about the riots and siege of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) conducted by hundreds of people from various mass organizations.

It was reported that the riots were triggered by the rage of protest masses who received information that the activities carried out at YLBHI were a 'revival seminar of the PKI and Communism'. As a follow up of the news, the national media then released an article stating that the information received by members of these organizations is a hoax.

Written in several other articles as well, the action undertaken at YLBHI is actually a discussion with the issues of 'democracy emergency' and art performances that include music performances, poetry readings, and stand-up comedy. The masses were furious because this hoax message even threw YLBHI with rocks, yelling, and through police security.

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Approximately 100 people who are besieged in YLBHI certainly feel scared and threatened at the time of the incident, did not rule out the possibility of trauma. This is proof of how easily the hoaxes propagated by irresponsible parties triggered great terror and conflict. Without follow-up, hoax will continue to be a terror for the community if it is not immediately straightened out, especially if the issues are urgent and sensitive.

According to research by Stanford University in 2016, there are at least two things that support the spread of hoaxes; flood of information flow is abundant and critical thinking ability of low society. In addition, the active use of social media by the community, especially Indonesia became one of the factors supporting the rampant circulation of false news and hoax.

Based on an online survey conducted by the Indonesian Telematics Society (Mastel) in February 2017, social media became the main source of hoax distribution. The survey involving 1,116 respondents shows 92.40 percent of news hoax found in many social media. In addition, an Internet survey of the Association of Internet Service Providers Indonesia (APJII) shows social media is the highest type of content accessible to internet users in Indonesia than the figure of more than 50 percent of the internet user population. Imagine the extent of potential hoax exposure to Indonesian society.

The next thing to note is the ability of critical thinking and weak Indonesian literacy. Central Connecticut State University study in 2015 shows Indonesia ranked 60th of 61 countries in terms of the level of literacy of the world community. Juxtaposed with the large number of internet users, being in this rank can be said both alarming and dangerous to the people of Indonesia.

So, is the presence of false news and hoax really causing trouble? Although society is not necessarily affected, at least there will be fear when someone shares information about the bomb terror, especially with the photographs of the victim; there will be anxiety over gangster information with the mention of various areas and testimonies of victims that are not necessarily true, as well as the terror of crime in certain areas that have the potential to cause anxiety. In fact, terror hoax can even be more intimidating than bomb terror.

The problematic of this hoax is essentially paradoxical. Elements that are added and subtracted in communication and preaching become a problem that can only be solved by communication itself.

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NEW AFStory

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