Experts Urge Public to Beware of Hoaxes Targeting State Institutions

The spread of false information or hoaxes targeting state institutions is considered to be increasingly rampant on social media and has the potential to erode public trust in state bodies. Therefore, the public is urged to be more critical by always verifying any information before believing or sharing it. Data from the Directorate General of Digital Space Supervision at the Ministry of Communication and Digital shows that 1,674 hoax contents were found between 22 October 2024 and 20 October 2025. Of that number, government-related hoaxes were the second most common category after fraud. The breakdown includes 589 fraud cases, 341 government-related cases, 249 miscellaneous cases, 166 political cases, 87 health cases, 68 disaster cases, 49 international cases, 42 crime cases, 41 defamation cases, 25 trade cases, eight religious cases, and five education cases.

Recently, two issues circulating on social media have drawn particular attention: a narrative claiming the House of Representatives (DPR) rejected the discussion of the Asset Forfeiture Bill and a claim that the National Police is the most corrupt institution in Southeast Asia. Both pieces of information are considered to lack credible sources. Responding to the first issue, Deputy Speaker of the DPR Sari Yuliati firmly stated that the DPR never rejected the discussion of the Asset Forfeiture Bill, calling the information circulating on social media false news. Meanwhile, the claim about the police was criticised by academics. The Executive Director of the National Data Index, Ayip Tayana, assessed that the survey results from the international institution IndexMundi could not be scientifically justified due to fundamental methodological weaknesses. He noted the sample size was not proportional to each country’s population, failing to meet proper research standards. He also highlighted that the online survey method lacked adequate respondent verification, opening the door to sampling bias, self-selection bias, and potential manipulation of results. Ayip urged the public not to immediately accept such survey results or information on social media as absolute truth, but rather to use them as material for questioning and evaluation, not as a basis for judgement.