Page 14 - Harmonisation of Anti-Fake News Legislation in ASEAN Flip Book

Harmonisation of Anti-Fake News Legislation in ASEAN
negative comment management.60 Unlike natural and juristic persons that post information on these platforms and are therefore consid- ered as publishers, the platform providers are not.61 An intermediary facility provider is responsible for the impact and legal consequences for the negative content on its platforms unless it removes it quickly after it becomes aware of it.62 It is not held responsible for negative content if it is only a conduit of information, only stores the data/ information or acts as a search engine.63 This is commonly called a safe harbour provision.64
Indonesia has given the world a salutary example of how ethnic and religiously tinged disinformation can spiral out of control on social media, intensifying post-election tensions into violent conflict and creating a sense of political crisis. The leveraging of social media disinformation to target core institutions of democ- racy, such as election monitoring agencies and the electoral process itself, is a particular threat to democratic countries every- where in the context of rising populism.65
Fake news was reported to have exploded since the 2014 Presidential Election in Indonesia with both sides spreading fake news and slander, with most targeted on President Jokowi on the basis of race and religion.66 In 2017, Indonesian police claimed that “such vitriol ... was part of an organised campaign by a ‘fake news factory’ against political targets”.67 It was reported by journalists that the syndi-
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Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid art 22(3)-(4). Ibid.
Collins English Dictionary (online at 28 July 2020) (online ed, ‘Safe Harbour’ (def 4).
Quinton Temby, ‘Disinformation, Violence, and anti-Chinese Sentiment in Indonesia’s 2019
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Elections’ (2019)(No 67) ISEAS Perspective 1, 6.
66 Airlangga Pribadi Kusman, ‘Hoaxes and Fake News: A Cancer on Indonesian Democracy’, Indonesia at Melbourne (Blog Post, 19 January 2017) <https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/ hoaxes-and-fake-news-a-cancer-on-indonesian-democracy/>.
67 Francis Chan, ‘Indonesian Police Uncover ‘Fake News Factory’’, The Straits Times (online, 17 September 2017) <https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/ indonesian-police-uncover-fake-news-factory>.
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