Google Disburses 26,5 Billion Rupiah to Fight Misinformation Ahead of the 2024 Election

Google announced a total funding of $1,7 million or around 26,5 billion Rupiah for two major initiatives in fighting hoaxes and misinformation ahead of the 2024 National Election. This announcement was made at the annual Google for Indonesia event, yesterday (7/12).

The first initiative, funding of $ 1,2 million or around 18,7 billion Rupiah to CekFakta and the Google News Initiative (GNI) Training Network to equip journalists, editors and fact checkers with the skills and tools needed ahead of the 2024 National Election. CekFakta is a fact-checking consortium of 24 news organizations.

Second, through philonthropic arms Google.org, his party provided a grant of $ 500 thousand or around 7,8 billion Rupiah to the Indonesian Anti-Defamation Society (MAFINDO) to run the Digital Academy program for the elderly and intelligent youth in 2023. This program will empower vulnerable groups of voters, such as first-time voters and the elderly , in order to better understand and respond to the content they see on the internet.

Not only that, Google also announced a new initiative led by the Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta to develop the Safer Internet Lab. This laboratory will research and analyze the sources and patterns of misinformation and disinformation to help increase public awareness of various provocative issues before they develop into bigger problems.

Managing Director of Google Indonesia Randy Jusuf said, for more than seven years Google has run and funded various programs for editors, journalists, students, parents and school children to foster critical thinking skills and fact-checking at the downstream level. At this level, readers usually find a lot of questionable information.

"We're also trying to address issues of misinformation and disinformation at the upstream level. We hope that researchers and partners at the Safer Internet Lab will be able to report and develop potential solutions that will help policy makers and fact-checkers understand how and where to source this problem to gain public confidence. stay awake," Randy said.

Other Google initiatives

As Randy said, Google's support is not the first time in eradicating the spread of hoax news. From upstream to downstream, Google initiates various programs through GNI with the mission of supporting the media in providing quality coverage. In Indonesia, GNI focuses on improving editorial capabilities, especially fighting misinformation.

The GNI Indonesia Training Network was initiated in 2017 through a partnership with Internews and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI). This program trains journalists, blogger, and students to combat the spread of misinformation. The latest data shows that this program has been attended by 11 thousand participants in 51 cities.

Then, launched CekFakta in 2018 which is a fact-checking collaborative project built on the Yudistira API by MAFINDO and in collaboration with several online media affiliated with the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and the Indonesian Cyber ​​Media Association (AMSI), supported by the Google News Initiative (GNI), Internews, and FirstDraft.

Last September, GNI partnered with global innovation lab Echos and supported by the Indonesian Cyber ​​Media Union (SMSI), through the GNI Startups Lab Indonesia program to support high-quality coverage for local communities, specific audience groups, and/or previously underserved communities across Indonesia. .

In this program, digital news startups will discover how to understand their audience better, learn successful and innovative strategies, get access to discussions with mentors from Google, Echos, and SMSI, and can contribute to the evolution of national journalism.

GNI and Echos held a 16-week program specifically tailored to the needs of content startups in Indonesia and for digital news organizations that are still in the early stages of creating original digital content.

They will benefit from Echos' expertise in supporting media startups with design thinking and supported by SMSI's extensive network, as well as active communities in Indonesia who will also organize workshops, training, and opportunities networking with famous figures.

Next, the News Equity Fund is a global commitment to provide support facilities and opportunities for news organizations that focus on serving underrepresented communities. This move is made because Google wants to support inclusion, empower a diverse news ecosystem, and support small and medium-sized publishers in publishing original journalism content for underrepresented audiences around the world. Indonesia is one of the destination countries in this program.

However, equipping journalists with the right skills is not enough. Communities need to be trained in skills to assess and check the correctness of information in order to prevent online misinformation.

Previously, Google.org was said to have donated more than $2,4 million to support a number of organizations in Indonesia in increasing media literacy. The grants provided aim to equip teachers and lecturers with training so that they are better able to evaluate online sources of information, for example.