- 04/07/2022
- Category: Press Release
On 28-29 June, the Center for Digital Society (CfDS) in collaboration with UNESCO is holding a hybrid conference on Addressing Gaps in Regulating Harmful Content Online.
This event is part of the Social Media 4 Peace project, funded by the European Union. UNESCO commissioned research to CfDS to analyze the gaps in the existing regulatory frameworks on harmful content, which is a growing problem on social media platforms in Indonesia.
“The Social Media 4 Peace project aims to strengthen the resilience of local communities to the spread of harmful content online, particularly hate speech and disinformation. The research conducted by CfDS is the first step in this direction – to understand the root causes, scale and impact of harmful content, especially on marginalized communities. The next step is to set up a multi-stakeholder coalition for social media, which will enable civil society to advise platforms on content moderation practices.” said Ana Lomtadze, Programme Specialist for Communication and Information at UNESCO.
Through its research, based on literature review and focus groups discussions, CfDS found that the current legal framework in Indonesia does not adequately address the issue of harmful content. Faiz Rahman, researcher at CfDS, said that “There is no clear distinction between harmful and illegal content and the definition under the different provisions is still too broad and unclear.”
CfDS also found a gap in the way harmful content is handled by the government and social media platforms. Harmful content is defined differently by the two parties, resulting in diverging responses. Within the framework of Indonesian law, all harmful content can be criminally prosecuted, while platforms use other mechanisms, such as taking down content, limiting distribution or blocking users.
“The Indonesian legal framework may be vulnerable to abuse and could lead to violations of freedom of expression. Our research also finds that regulation of online content disproportionately harms marginalized groups, such as gender and religious minorities.” continued Faiz.
The first day of the event is open to the public and brings together representatives from the government, civil society and social media platforms to debate effective ways of addressing harmful content. The second day is a closed session for civil society groups and platforms to discuss practical steps towards a multi-stakeholder coalition for social media and to encourage community-led content moderation practices.
The event also introduces the Anti-Harmful Content platform: https://antikontennegatif.id. Through it, people can report harmful content and help future research and monitoring.
“The antikontennegatif.id platform is a step towards empowering citizens to share their experiences of harmful content, and it ultimately contributes to a safer cyberspace for all.” said Novi Kurnia, the research principal investigator at CfDS.
Register to the event: http://ugm.id/UNESCO28
Learn more about Social Media 4 Peace: https://en.unesco.org/social-media-4-peace
What is Social Media 4 Peace Project?
In 2021-2023, UNESCO is implementing the project “Social Media 4 Peace: Countering online disinformation and hate speech to foster Peace”, funded by the European Union. The overall objective is to strengthen the resilience of societies to harmful content spread online, in particular disinformation and hate speech, while protecting freedom of expression and promoting peace through digital technologies, notably social media. This project is aligned with UNESCO’s overall strategy to combat disinformation by fostering the information as a public good and strengthening the transparency of the internet ecosystem.
Indonesia was selected as one of three pilot countries, (the other two are Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kenya), given its diversity, high rates of Internet penetration and social media usage and the political commitment to address the risks of harmful content. In its first phase of project implementation, UNESCO has partnered with MAFINDO to train civil society organizations on the use of social media for peacebuilding and promote Media and Information Literacy. To analyze the root causes of online harmful content as well as the existing legal frameworks addressing it, UNESCO has collaborated with the Center for Digital Society (CfDS) at Universitas Gadjah Mada and Article 19.
Written by Firya Q. Abisono
