Birdwatch: Fact Checking will Need to be the Future of Social Media

Social media platforms (primarily Facebook and Twitter) have faced mounting pressure to better their efforts in combating misinformation, particularly after the US 2020 presidential elections. At the end of January this year, Twitter introduced its Birdwatch program to users in the US. The community-backed program is meant to tackle misinformation on the platform by letting

A Brief Look Into Indonesia’s Hidden Pandemic on Whatsapp: Fake News & Misinformation

If you’re in a family Whatsapp group chat, there’s a big chance that you’ve come across some of the weirdest and wackiest pieces of content to have ever been made. In other words, fake news (or to keep it simple, hoax). The word “hoax” itself is so ingrained within Indonesian social media that it’s pretty much become a buzzword that’s commented on any given post that presents some sort of statistic or claim. At the height of the pandemic and in the midst of self-quarantine, I asked my friends to send me some of the most absurd fake news messages they got in regards to COVID-19. I wanted to know more about what the World Health Organisation describes as an ongoing fight against an “infodemic” of fake news and misinformation. So here’s my brief look into the weird and dangerous world of misinformation during the pandemic.