Summary
Highlights
Ismail Fahmi recounts an incident in 2016 where false reports of deaths during a demonstration quickly spread on social media. His investigation revealed that these reports were amplified by bots, leading him to develop a system called "Drone Plate" to monitor and visualize such conversations on Twitter, aiming to expose those attempting to mislead the public.
Contrary to initial beliefs that bots were the primary drivers of fake news, an MIT research in 2018 revealed that humans are more prone to sharing disinformation, particularly controversial content. This finding underscored the challenge of combating misinformation, as human behavior plays a significant role in its propagation.
Fahmi illustrates the danger of disinformation with an example of fake customer service accounts targeting users in distress on social media. These accounts leverage panic to trick individuals into clicking malicious links, leading to significant financial losses. Data analysis showed a high percentage of fake accounts (47.7%) engaging in these scams across multiple Indonesian banks.
Another critical example of disinformation is the widespread hoax about microchips being implanted through COVID-19 vaccines. This narrative, initially international, quickly adapted to local contexts, with similar claims made about Indonesian officials. Fahmi's travels across six Indonesian cities confirmed that a vast majority of people had heard this particular hoax.
Using social network analysis on Twitter data, Fahmi demonstrates how disinformation clusters form. While initial hoaxes about vaccine microchips had international narratives, local versions emerged as vaccines arrived. He notes the encouraging presence of larger clusters dedicated to debunking these hoaxes, including health workers, highlighting the collective effort to combat misinformation.
The core idea is to "inoculate" people against being manipulated by disinformation. By collecting vast amounts of social media data, analyzing it with big data analytics, and visualizing how disinformation spreads, communities can better understand and avoid falling victim to hoaxes. Fahmi encourages others to adopt similar visualization techniques to empower communities in confronting disinformation.