Nezar states that handling health hoaxes requires involvement of digital platforms

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital (Wamenkomdigi) Nezar Patria stated that handling health hoaxes needs to start from the source through collaboration with digital platforms so that the public receives clear information about the source of health content. Nezar assessed that health hoaxes are one of the most serious challenges in the digital space because they have a broad impact on society. “Besides political hoaxes, the second one, health hoaxes, I think is the most viral. Because health is a concern for everyone,” said Nezar in a statement confirmed in Jakarta on Thursday. He explained that the spread of health hoaxes is difficult to control if relying only on cyber patrols and content complaint mechanisms. Therefore, the government is promoting an upstream approach by involving digital platforms in managing health content. Nezar highlighted one solution that can be implemented is providing labels on content to help the public understand the source of the information. He emphasised that this approach does not aim to restrict society from sharing information, but to provide context so that the public can assess the credibility of the content. According to him, society needs to know whether certain information is delivered by licensed health personnel or not. That way, the public can be more vigilant in responding to circulating health content. Nezar proposed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Minister of Communication and Digital and the Minister of Health so that regulations and policy follow-ups can run better. This approach will run alongside mechanisms for handling harmful content. However, he stressed that preventive steps remain the main key. With cross-sectoral collaboration and support from digital platforms, the government targets more effective handling of health hoaxes while increasing public literacy in sorting information.