Millennial Bandung Indonesia Views Hoaxes On Social Media

Abstract

The very rapid dissemination of information on social media and the many millennials who use social media, create its own concerns in responding to hoax information on social media. The concern itself arises to teenagers who use social media after receiving information that is not necessarily true. The purpose of this study is to find out how millennial netizens respond to hoax information on social media. Knowing how millennial netizens identify information on instagram social media, and knowing how millennial netizens break the hoax information dissemination. This research is a descriptive study using qualitative methods. Data collection is done by interviews, observations, documents, and information from the internet. The results of this study are that millennial netizens in the city of Bandung can cope wisely when receiving hoax information on Instagram social media. Millennial netize has the same way to stop the spread of hoaxes on social media, by not participating in spreading information whose truth is very doubtful. The millennial generation is now beginning to realize the threats and dangers arising from the existence of a Hoax. Regarding the impact of hoaxes, respondents who thought hoaxes were very disturbing to the harmony of the community. They have thought opinion that hoaxes can cause conflict as in society.

Keywords: Hoax, millennial, social media

Introduction

Fake news or what is commonly referred to as hoax news is now rife in Indonesia. Social media is now a medium for communicating between individuals or groups in this modern era, which has many variations, including Facebook, Twitter, or mobile phone messages such as WhatsApp and so on which cannot be properly filtered. - Messages sent or received (Bailussy & Simabur, 2019). The hoax is now the focus of attention, especially in online media. The flood of information confuses the audience to determine which information or news is true and which is fake. Furthermore, this false information becomes part of the conflict so that each of them claims that the information conveyed by their closest person or group is true information, and vice versa if the information they get from an unknown person or not from their group is fake news. The hoax is information that is engineered to cover up real information. In addition, the hoax is also interpreted as an act of obscuring real information, by flooding the media with the wrong message in order to cover up the real message. The purpose of deliberately spreading fake news or hoaxes is to make people feel insecure and confused. In this confused condition, people tend to make weak, unconvincing, and even wrong decisions.

In the Oxford dictionary, hoaxes are defined as a form of deception that aims to create humor or bring a danger (Oxford Dictionary, 2020). Hoax in Indonesian means fake news, false information, or false news. Meanwhile, according to the English dictionary, hoax means teasing, lying, and tricking or deceiving. In the book "Sins Against Science, The Scientific Media Hoaxes of Poe, Twain, and Other" written by Walsh, states that the term hoax has existed since 1800 at the beginning of the industrial revolution era in England. Currently, the dissemination of information or news through online media is not only done by news sites which is already known by the community, but by anyone internet users can play a role dissemination of information. Unfortunately, a lot of information or news is disseminated individually or more groups whose truth cannot be accounted for or indicated a hoax. Hoaxes are information or news that contains things that are not certain or which are really neat facts. Now information or news that is considered true no longer easy to find. The Mastel (2017) survey revealed that out of 1,146 respondents, 44.3% received the hoax news every day and 17.2% received more than once a day.

Even the mainstream media that are relied on as trustworthy media sometimes join in contaminated with the spread of hoaxes. Mainstream media are also channels for disseminating information / news hoaxes, respectively 1.20% (radio), 5% (print media) and 8.70% (television). Not only by the mainstream media, but now hoaxes are very much circulating in the community through online media. The results of research conducted by Mastel (2017) state that the most widely used channels in spreading hoaxes are websites, amounting to 34.90%, chat applications (WhatsApp, line, telegram) by 62.80%, and through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Path) which are the most used media, reaching 92.40%. Meanwhile, data recorded by the Ministry of Communication and Information states that there are as many as 800 thousand sites in Indonesia that are indicated as hoax spreaders (Pratama, 2016).

The definition of social media itself according to some experts, namely, the definition of social in social media is that individuals in a community do not only exist in an environment, but must collaborate with other environments so that cooperation is created because cooperation is a social character (Nasrullah, 2017). It can be concluded that social media is a medium on the internet that allows users to represent themselves, so that they can interact, cooperate, share, communicate with other users and also form virtual social bonds (Nasrullah, 2017). More broadly, social media is one of the most vulnerable platforms and is very often used as a medium for spreading hoax news. The large number of active users can even be said social media enthusiasts in Indonesia, making it easy for hoax spreaders carry out their actions. In addition, the supervision of social media is also not too strict which results in the hoax spreaders being free to spread their symbols, so that any news that is shared can spread easily. The presence of social media also has a positive and negative impact (Marwan, 2019). In Indonesia, the presence of social media also has a political, social, cultural and economic influence of social media, shifting and penetrating the boundaries of hierarchical to egalitarian interaction relations patterns, both in the political and cultural sphere. Inadequate or even inferior information is scattered massively without verification and confirmation. Hoaxes, slander and blasphemy are almost non-stop (Marwan, 2019).

Social media is often associated with teenagers, the majority of whom spend their time surfing on social media, especially now that the internet offers lots of interesting applications for its users. It's not uncommon for teenagers today to use their gadgets to play social media, and make the most of it. Starting from doing business online, making new friends, shopping online and much more. Hoax news circulating not only through adults, but among teenagers, hoax news also often circulates, where fake news can affect the way of thinking and assessing the object being reported.

Some researchers are still trying to map how hoaxes spread in Indonesia. Ismail Fahmi (2017a), for example, with the imprint drone - a software engine he created - tries to map how hoaxes spread on the internet, particularly on social media. A survey conducted by Fahmi (2017a) revealed that 92.40% of hoaxes in Indonesia are recognized as spreading through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Path), respectively 62.80% of hoaxes are spread through chat applications (WhatsApp, line, telegram) and occupy the number three, respectively 34.90% of hoaxes are spread through websites. Meanwhile, if the format is based on hoaxes, 62.10% of the spread are in the form of writing, while 37.50% is 37.50% is in the form of two-dimensional images. Fahmi's research (2017b), found that 91.80% of the most popular hoaxes in Indonesia are socio-political issues, which specifically discuss Pilkada and Government Policy or Performance. Following in succession at number two, namely the issue of SARA (Ethnic Religion, Race and Inter-group) as much as 88.60%, is in the third number, namely the issue of health.

Previously, research on hoaxes was also carried out by Situngkir (2017) with the title "Spread of Hoax in Social Media". This research conducted by Situngkir discusses how to spread hoaxes as gossip and rumors on twitter, by observing empirical cases in Indonesia. This study also discusses the factors of spreading gossip on social media and looks at the epidemiology of propagation hoaxes before and after the hoax are clarified in conventional mass media. The results of this study conclude that twitter as a micro-blogging service is an effective medium to spread news from one person to another at a speed comparable to conventional mass media. Hoaxes have a large population coverage of five to six tweets, and are potentially exponentially larger, unless conventional media stops the hoax from spreading. Pepitone (Westerman & Van, 2013) also said that social media are considered as one technology whose use is increasing as a source of information. Meanwhile, Villanueva said social media is a part of the internet that gives everyone power in forming his ideas to others, both interpersonal, and too many people (Winkelmann, 2012). According to Susanto (2011) there are problems, namely parties who should be trusted and how to filter information so that it useful to readers. The unclear sources of information and the diversity of information that lead to these hoaxes tend to become a terror.

Based on this background, it is interesting to study more deeply about how millennials in the Bandung view hoax news on social media and how teenagers respond to hoax news on social media. Given that social media is a medium that is most widely used in spreading hoaxes. The purpose of this study was to determine the views of millennials in Bandung on hoax news on social media and to find out more about how teenagers respond to hoax news on social media.

Problem Statement

Based on the explanation in the previous section, this article focuses on discussing millennial bandung indonesia views hoaxes on social media. Some aspects that were explored included the level of knowledge and understanding of millennial generation towards hoax and impact of the hoax. It is hoped that some of the aspects in question can answer as well as become solutions to prevent the spread of hoaxes and it negative effects.

Research Questions

What is the perspective of young people as internet users to against hoaxes?

How the Bandung millennials generation overcomes hoaxes?

Purpose of the Study

This study aims to find out millennial perspective about hoax in social media and what is impact of hoax according to Millennial.

Research Methods

This is a qualitative descriptive study, which is a study that focuses on describing in-depth and systematic description of research results. Qualitative descriptives also intends to describe the relationship between the results with the relevant concepts and theories (Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). Qualitative descriptibe in the context of this paper intends to describe the results and the findings of millennial bandung indonesia views hoaxes on social media

To get the expected results, researchers used data collection techniques through interviews. Data retrieval was done at data sources that involved millennial generation. They were chosen by purposive sampling with criteria as millennial generation or born between the 80s and 90s. Establishing sampling criteria aims so that selected informants were according to predetermined research needs. The informants in this study were 18 informants consisting of millenial from Bandung.

Findings

Based on interview that has been done, it turns out that the maturity of the community to recognize hoax has increased quite large as described in Figure 1. In their opinion, they will be to correct hoax through social media, clarification of the news and read the overall contents of the news information. This shows the awareness that overcomes the spread of hoaxes starts from oneself, remains high. However, implicitly the respondents still want firmer law enforcement to the perpetrators of hoax distribution and involve the owners / managers of social media platforms.

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Increasingly reduced citizens to hoaxes through media literacy is helping the government in tackling the spread of hoaxes. Because the level of digital media literacy in Indonesia has a big role in the rise of hoaxes that are spread in Indonesia. Understanding literacy itself is one's ability to process and understand information when doing the reading and writing process. Education Development Center (EDC) also states, literacy is more than the ability to read and write, but the ability of individuals to use all the potential and skills possessed in their lives. Therefore, digital media literacy is the ability to understand the world of mass media so that it is critical and selective in receiving information from the media and not easily influenced by incorrect information. The ability to do this is intended so that viewers as media consumers become aware of the way media is constructed (made) and accessed. Someone who does not have digital media literacy will be easily influenced and trust everything in digital media.

Nowadays, internet users in Indonesia tend to like to spread information to other people without first checking the truth. But not with Millennials at the moment. Referring to Figure 2 below, when millennials read information, they will read all the information / news they read, as much as 66.7% of respondents will first read until the news he reads on the internet. This indicates that Millennials have begun to think critically about any information / news received. A millennial generation which, according to Tapscott (2009), is part of the internet generation that has critical, innovative and integrity characteristics, often unknowingly is consumed by the convenience offered by the internet.

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The cognitive abilities of the audience in the information verification process. In fact, at a higher level, digital literacy can help individuals provide alternative information on the information that has been confirmed falsification. In recent research by De Keersmaecker and Roets (2017), they stated that the degree of justification by individuals depends on their cognitive abilities. Individuals with lower cognitive abilities tend to be less responsive to correct false information than those with high cognitive abilities. As long as the public has an adequate level of critical media literacy, no matter how much hoax news is offered, there will be no community affected. in responding to the right news, not many people are interested in disseminating it through social media. Conversely, when the news they receive and access is false news, hate speech, SARA, containing pornographic content, etc. precisely such things are actually circulated and then thousands of times more recirculated when compared to true news. The relation of digital literacy in eradicating false news lies in its role.

HOAX becomes a serious issue in Indonesia considering that 2019 Indonesian internet users exceed half of Indonesia's own population. At present, the threat posed by hoax news dissemination is not excessive if the level has been compared to the threat of narcotics and terrorism circulation. The spread of the hoax news that manipulates, integrates the truth, and even distorts the facts is now no longer easily preventable. According to the Indonesian Anti-Defamation Society (MAFINDO), the theme of HOAX news in Indonesia is dominated by politics and religion. Nearly 50% had a political theme and 12% had a religious theme. HOAX with a combination of narration and photos found as many as 443 cases throughout 2018. This content is quite interesting because it combines well-written text and photos, as if the news is true.

The use of hooks with the contents of SARA issues must be a vigilance of the community so that they do not want to be used anymore for certain interests. Therefore the millennial generation is now beginning to realize the threats and dangers arising from the existence of a Hoax. Millennial generation, then starts to have an awareness of the big impact of hoax news that starts from the creation of chaos in society, then hoax news can also cause resentment towards parties who disagree or disagree. If the hoax is about religion, it will attenuate tolerance towards other religious communities, many of which offend ethnicity and race. In addition, the news of hoaxes caused endless shipped. Mutual distrust of others and mistrust. Disunity can also occur due to hoax news.

Conclusion

This study concludes that maturity of the community recognizes hoaxes to increase considerably large, it can be seen from their opinion (millenial Bandung responden) to correct hoaxes through social media, clarification of the news and read the entire contents of the news as much information. This shows the awareness that tackling the spread of hoaxes has been realized and started from yourself. Increasingly reduced citizens to hoaxes through media literacy is helping the government in tackling the spread of hoaxes. Because the level of digital media literacy in Indonesia has a big role in the rise of hoaxes that are spread in Indonesia. Millennials are starting to realize the negative effects of hoaxes. News hoaxes that attack each other between parties is the cause of division and conflict. Providing hoax news content is considered to be one of the habits that is detrimental to social users, especially the impact on social media users who are unfamiliar with news coverage that is not certain. Hoax can have a prolonged impact if the content lasts for a long time and is not quickly handled carefully, quickly and precisely.

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