JAYAPURA - Papua will soon be faced with the stages of the 2024 elections, a year earlier the trend of hoaxes and hate speech was predicted to increase drastically ahead of the political year.

The Head of the Communication and Informatics Department of Papua Province, Jeri Agus Yudianto, said that hoaxes and hate speech may have begun to rise since this year. This is seen from the implementation of the 2024 election which has the potential to be held in conjunction with the Governor, Regent and Mayoral Elections.

"Especially now that it is easier to access the internet from each other's mobile phones. Well, the growth of hoaxes and hate speech will certainly be very fast because people have easier access to the internet," he said, in Jayapura, Tuesday (21/6/2022).

Thus, Jeri advises people to be able to filter and sort out the correct information before it is consumed or spread to others.

On the other hand, it does not take it into the realm of personal life, everything is accessed on the internet, so that unwanted things do not happen.

"The point here, if we realize that regarding politics, every five years there must be a change of leadership, regional head, head of state, or even in the People's Representative Council. So, be aware of hoaxes and hate speech and then don't take it too much to your personal life," he urged.. 

In addition to political influence, Jeri said, the problem of hate speech and hoaxes was also motivated by a lack of literacy and lack of law enforcement due to the unwillingness of victims to report to the authorities.

"This literacy is important, again when viewing images or photos or videos on social media, it is filtered first before sharing. It doesn't trigger reactions from individuals or groups to express inappropriate words," he said. ***