The General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with video-sharing social media platform TikTok to prevent the spread of hate speech and hoaxes ahead of the 2024 General Elections.
"This is the first time (MoU) for TikTok to realize healthy general elections, healthy general elections without hoaxes, without defamation, without bullying against anyone who runs in the general election contest," Bawaslu head Rahmat Bagja said at the MoU signing event here on Monday.
He noted that the signing of the MoU is a form of mitigation effort to check the risk of hoaxes being spread on social media, as witnessed during the 2019 General Elections.
"We hope that with the presence of TikTok and several platforms that will cooperate with Bawaslu, we would improve general elections that are more argumentative, more reasonable," he said.
Bagja expressed the hope that social media platforms like TikTok will provide information or educational content on general elections that can serve as a reference for voters seeking information without hoaxes and defamation based on ethnicity, religion, and race.
"We hope TikTok cooperates with other social media (platforms) to realize social media channels that become a reference for people, especially voters, both first-time voters or young voters," he said.
Related news: Ministry devises steps to fight hoaxes ahead of 2024 elections
Meanwhile, the head of public policy and government relations at TikTok Indonesia, Firry Wahid, said that the signing of the MoU is a form of TikTok's commitment to encouraging general elections that have integrity.
He also affirmed that TikTok will help educate voters about elections.
Wahid further said that TikTok will provide a special channel for Bawaslu to support the agency in its fight against the spread of election-related misinformation on the platform.
"There will be a special channel for Bawaslu that can deliver people's reports regarding the misinformation," he informed.
Related news: Bawaslu projects hoax spread to peak in February 2024
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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