House of Representatives’ (DPR RI’s) Commission I member Bobby Adhityo Rizaldi has invited Indonesians to work hand in hand in fighting hoaxes, so that people will not be influenced by slander and incitement.
“We invite you all to become netizens, who fight hoaxes jointly,” Rizaldi stated at the Talk with Legislators webinar held by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics and Commission I of DPR RI on Monday.
Rizaldi noted that in order to fight hoaxes, the people must understand the characteristics and types of fake news as well as ways to identify them.
The House member then drew attention to four characteristics of hoaxes, with the first being those that tend to spread through e-mail as the person behind it believes that it has the potential to draw a bigger response from the public.
The second type of hoaxes contain messages that can make readers feel anxious and panicky, he remarked. Third, hoaxes end with an appeal for readers to spread the false information to a wider forum, he added.
“Lastly, the identity of the initial spreader is mostly unknown,” he remarked.
On that occasion, he also pointed out types of hoaxes, such as fake news, clickbait, misinformation, confirmation bias, satirical news, post-truth news, and propaganda.
According to Rizaldi, there are three steps to check hoaxes. First, if the presumed hoax is complemented with a picture, people can search for the picture on Google, he remarked.
Thus, people can identify the source of the picture and get the truth behind the news, he added.
Second, if the hoax is accompanied by a web address, people must identify the owner of the web address through its about us page, the legislator explained.
Lastly, if people receive the news from messaging apps, then they must ask the sender about the source of the news, he stressed.
Source: Antara News