Was Indonesia's president Joko Widodo a teenaged punk who listened to devil-worshipping music?
Did one of his supporters beat up an actress because she backed the opposition leader?
Key points:
- Indonesia's Government has started holding weekly briefings to debunk online hoaxes
- As the April 17 election draws near, fake news and hate speech has exploded online
- Police have cracked down on fake news, arresting internet trolls who spread misinformation
Did Mr Widodo wear an ear piece during an election debate so his staff could feed him answers? And did his opponent General Prabowo Subianto also cheat by wearing smart glasses?
The answer to all these questions is no.
But in Indonesia, fake news, hate speech and propaganda are so rampant that the Government has started holding weekly briefings to debunk online hoaxes.
Police are also cracking down, arresting dozens of internet trolls for spreading misinformation in the lead up to next month's presidential election.
But stamping out fake news is a near-impossible task.
With a population of 265 million people, Indonesia is among the world's biggest users of social media.
On every key platform — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp — Indonesians are in the top five countries when it comes to the number of users.
And among the users are plenty of abusers.
One survey showed almost half of all social media users in Indonesia say they are exposed to hoax stories online every day.
"We're seeing a decline in trust in mainstream media and a turn towards alternative sources. And that's when conspiracy theories resonate," Ross Tapsell, an expert on Indonesian media, at the Australian National University, said.
Jokowi in the crosshairs of internet trolls
As the 2019 election campaign becomes more heated, Mr Widodo has emerged as the biggest target for online trolls.
Hoax stories have exploded online, portraying Mr Widodo — or Jokowi as he's known — as a devil-worshipping punk, a Christian, and even a Chinese communist.
All are labels that seek to exploit religious and racial tensions that divide key parties before Indonesians head to the polls in April.
Last year, a story which claimed that he'd agreed to hand over the islands of Java and Sumatra to China in exchange for writing off the country's $21 billion debt was shared online
He's also spent years fighting claims that he's a secret communist — an inflammatory label in Indonesia.
"In Indonesia, communism is still the bogeyman here that people still share a lot, and believe, that the President is somehow previously connected to the Communist party," Mr Tapsell said.
Mr Widodo has ordered police to crack down on those spreading fake news and rumours.
The editor of a fringe newspaper was recently released from jail after he was convicted for publishing a story claiming the President is Chinese.
Despite a year-long sentence, the editor Setiyardi Budiono said he was yet to be convinced the claim is untrue.
Three women were arrested in February after they were caught on video telling voters the President supports gay marriage and plans to ban the Muslim call to prayer and women from wearing the hijab.
A recent survey showed that 9 million Indonesians continue to believe the rumours.
"If we do nothing about it, the number [of believers] will reach 15 million and may rise to 30 million and even 50 million. It can be dangerous if one keeps quiet," Mr Widodo said.
Hoax busters take on web of misinformation
Teams of 'hoax busters' have sprung up across Indonesia to counter these fake stories at their source.
One group, Mafindo — or the Indonesian Anti Slander Society — has hundreds of volunteers working tirelessly to try to find and debunk hoax stories online before they go viral.
Mafindo founder Aribowo Sasmito estimates as many as five hoax stories a day circulate widely on Indonesian social media.
"There is an old saying that if a lie is repeatedly distributed, people will soon believe it is the truth. It is a danger that people keep seeing lies but nobody is trying to fact-check or debunk them," he said.
But as the days count down to the election, the hoax busters are struggling to keep up.
Cyber trolls — known as 'buzzers' in Indonesia — are being paid to spread hoax stories, often using dozens or even hundreds of fake accounts on Twitter and Facebook.
"In South-East Asia we're seeing a lot of young people hired because of their [digital] skills. They're paid over an election period to try to get more content about certain political candidates into the digital public sphere," Mr Tapsell said.
One man, who leads a team of such buzzers, claims their content is reaching at least 1 million people a week.
"Our battleground is social media," he told the Reuters news agency.
Most buzzers remain anonymous, because their work falls into a legal grey area — and none will say who is paying them.
But the hoax busters believe that many of the politicians who decry fake news are quietly using buzzers to discredit their opponents online.
"We do have reports that both parties and both candidates are using their services," Mr Sasmito said.
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March 30, 2019 at 02:12AM
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