The Habibie Center, 20th Anniversary Talking ASEAN

1. Disinformation versus
Freedom of Expression
Finding the Right Balance in
Southeast Asia
Ismail Fahmi, Ph.D.
Director PT. Media Kernels Indonesia
(a.k.a Drone Emprit)
Ismail.fahmi@gmail.com
TALKING ASEAN
LE MERIDIEN HOTEL - JAKARTA
13 November 2019
THE HABIBIE CENTER
20TH ANNIVERSARY

2. 2
1992 – 1997 Undergraduate, Electrical Engineering, ITB, Indonesia
2003 – 2004 Master, Information Science, University of Groningen, NL
2004 – 2009 Doctor, Information Science, University of Groningen, NL
2009 – Now Engineer at Weborama (Paris/Amsterdam)
2014 – Now Founder PT. Media Kernels Indonesia, a Drone Emprit Company
2015 – Now Consultant at Perpustakaan Nasional, Inisiator Indonesia OneSearch
2017 – Now Lecturer at the IT Magister Program of the Universitas Islam Indonesia
Ismail Fahmi, Ph.D.
Ismail.fahmi@gmail.com

3. AGENDA
•State of disinformation and freedom of
expression in Southeast Asia
•Government efforts
•Evaluation
•Conclusion
3

4. INTERNATIONAL CONCERNS

5. FAKE NEWS AND STATE CONTROL
KYOTO UNIV, JAPAN
5

6. 6

7. UNDERSTANDING ONLINE FALSEHOOD & INFLUENCE OPS
RSIS NTU, SINGAPORE
7

8. MIS-, DIS-, MAL-INFORMATION
THEIR DIFFERENCES
8

9. DISINFORMATION AND MISINFORMATION
GLOBAL PHENOMENON
9

10. WHY?
CONTINUED INFLUENCE EFFECT
10

11. HOWEVER, A LARGER PROBLEM THAN FAKE NEWS
11
Bias, propaganda, and deliberately
misleading information are much
MORE PREVALENT than fake news.
Gilad Lotan
Head of Data Science @buzzfeed

12. PROPAGANDA: MUCH MORE PREVALENT
12

13. 13

14. 14

15. INFLUENCE OPERATION AGAINST INDONESIA
Pro NKRI
Pro NKRI
Free West Papua
Pro NKRI

16. POLITICAL EVENT AS A MAIN DRIVER

17. POLITICAL EVENTS AND DISINFORMATION
17

18. 7-8 FEB 2017: JAKARTA GOVERNOR ELECTION 2017
SECOND DEBATE
18
AHOK - JAROT
ANIES-SANDI
AGUS-SILVY
MOSLEM
CYBER ARMY
2017

19. DEC 2018, JOKOWI DURING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Pro 01
Pro 02
Bots
Bots
Bots
Bots
Bots
Bots
Bots
Bots Iklan
Bots
2018

20. ISSUES ON JOKOWI
Unfulfilled Promises
Claiming other’s works Anti Islam and Ulama
PKI
China
Leadership

21. WHO PLAYED THE ISSUES ON JOKOWI

22. JOKOWI: ANTI-ISLAM & PRO CHINA
22
ANTI-ISLAM PRO CHINA

23. ISSUES ON PRABOWO
Hoaxes
Lack of experiences
Religion
Khilafah
Temperamental
Human Rights

24. WHO PLAYED THE ISSUES ON PRABOWO

25. PRABOWO: PRO KHILAFAH & HOAX MAKER
25
PRO KHILAFAH HOAX MAKER

26. GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE

27. SINGAPORE’S APPROACH TO COUNTERING
ONLINE FALSEHOOD
1. Defamation Act
2. Sedition Act
3. Protection from Harassment
Act (POFHA)
4. Protection from Online
Falsehoods & Manipulation
Act (PFMA)
INFLUENCE OPERATION
1. Political Donation Act
2. Maintenance of Religious
Harmony Act
3. Internal Security Act
27

28. POFHA (FOR PUBLIC)
28

29. POFMA (FOR PLATFORM)
29

30. INDONESIA’S APPROACHES
• UU ITE
• Internet Throttling
• Multi-stakeholder Fact-checking and Public Literacy
30

31. INDONESIA ANTI-SLANDER SOCIETY
(MAFINDO) DECLARED IN 2017
31

32. FACT CHECKER (CEKFAKTA.ID)
32

33. HOT LINES FOR REPORTING
NEGATIVE CONTENT

34. THE LATEST: ADUAN ASN
34

35. EVALUATION

36. 36

37. UU ITE AND
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
37
UU ITE 2016
started

38. UU ITE IS CONTROVERSIAL
38

39. ADUAN ASN: A REPRESIVE TOOL?
39

40. PROTEST AND RIOT IN JAKARTA (21ST MAY 2019)
REJECTING PRESIDENTIAL POLL RESULT
40

41. TREN HARIAN FACEBOOK DAN TWITTER
START STOP

42. TREN HARIAN INSTAGRAM DAN YOUTUBE
START STOP

43. IMPACT ON WHATSAPP GROUP TRAFFIC
DATA FROM 229 WA PUBLIC GROUPS
26.84526.20825.533
21.001
10.729
18.713
15.567
-42%-30% -60%
START STOP

44. IMPACT ON CONVERSATION ABOUT ‘JOKOWI’
DATA FROM 229 WA PUBLIC GROUPS
424
488
327 323
77 67
186
-76%-42%
START STOP

45. IMPACT ON CONVERSATION ABOUT ‘PRABOWO’
DATA FROM 229 WA PUBLIC GROUPS
618
482
405 407
123
27
155
-70%-61% -93%
START STOP

46. TREND OF CONVERSATION ABOUT ‘VPN’
DATA FROM 229 WA PUBLIC GROUPS
23
7
9
START STOP

47. INTERNET THROTTLING IN “West Papua”
NO IMPACT ON THE
”WEST PAPUA” CONVERSATION

48. DURING INTERNET THROTTLING
Pro Free West Papua

49. NEGATIVE INFLUENCE DURING THROTTLING

50. BALANCE
LISTENING TO THE CRITICS AND IDEAS

51. Current Situation:
Vicious cycle of noises
51
Government
Noise
Public
Noise
Buzzers Buzzers

52. Proposed Solution:
Increasing S/N Ratio
52

53. IDEAL SITUATION:
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
53
Government
Big Data Analytics
Signal
Response,
engagement
Policy & PR

54. CONCLUSION

55. CONCLUSION
• Disinformation has become a global concern, including in the
Southeast Asia.
• Not only disinformation, some countries have experienced
foreign influence (propaganda) operation.
• Government’s responses have similar approach:
• Increasing the State Control
• Impact:
• Increase in the freedom of speech cases.
• Public losses due to the Internet throttling.
• During the Internet throttling, propaganda and disinformation materials
still keep circulating.
55

56. THANK YOU
FOR LISTENING THIS PRESENTATION
Ismail Fahmi, PhD.