DIGIVESTASI - The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kemenkominfo) will handle 1,615 false rumors spread on websites and digital platforms by 2023. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Communication and Information has processed 12,547 contents containing fake news and misinformation from August 2018 to the end of 2023.

According to Antara, Sunday (July 1, 2024), the number of misinformation processed by the Negative Content Scavenging Engine (AIS) team of the Directorate General of Informatics Applications of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in 2023 was higher than in 2022. The number of publications was 1,528. 

By category, until December 2023, the most misinformation was related to the medical field with a total of 2,357 cases of misinformation. Topics related to the spread of COVID-19 continue to dominate this category.  In addition, there is a lot of misinformation about medicines and health products. Lies and scams related to government policies were also recorded as the second most common occurrence. 

Since August 2018, the Ministry of Communication and Information's AIS team has found a total of 2,210 cases of misinformation under the "government" and "fraud" categories. 

Misinformation most often involves fake accounts of central, regional or institutional government officials. We also found some misleading information regarding current government policies. In addition, fraudulent activities such as false and misleading information about private or government job vacancies, phishing, scams using mobile phone numbers or social media accounts, and welfare distribution with requests for personal data or specific information. The number is widespread on the Internet. 

Politics currently ranks third in the fake news rankings. The Ministry of Communication and Information's AIS team has identified 1,628 cases of disinformation since August 2018. This content is dominated by information about political parties, candidates, and the election process. 

The AIS team was established in January 2018 to search, identify, review and verify content that violates regulatory requirements. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology also blocked access to content deemed to be fake. Blocking access aims to prevent such content from spreading widely and causing harm to the public. 

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology urges the public to always be careful in spreading fake news and not to participate in spreading content containing fake news through the platform.

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