'Hoax killed my father': Indonesia's other pandemic

The delta variant has been blamed for the current outbreak in Indonesia, which reported over 2,000 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday. But there’s another factor that’s likely contributing to the surge — hoaxes and misinformation that’s kept individuals from following public health protocols, going to the hospital to seek treatment, or in receiving COVID-19 vaccines.

Some individuals for instance refuse to get vaccinated because their friends said that they will die within three years from getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Now some of those individuals who listened to those theories are now dead, and their surviving family members are waking up to the reality of how one hoax has taken away their loved ones, Harry Sufehmi, founder of MAFINDO, an NGO fighting the spread of hoaxes and misinformation in Indonesia, told Devex.

“So we are seeing the backlash from the victims of misinformation, hoaxes. They are now ... posting a lot on social media saying,‘hoax killed my father, hoax killed my brother, hoax killed my mother,’” Sufehmi said.

“This is very, very sad, but not completely unexpected. So we're trying to amplify those messages to let [people] know that [a] hoax is no child’s play. This is very serious. This is about other people's lives,” he added.

Hoaxes and misinformation have been a particular problem in Indonesia amid COVID-19. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, or KOMINFO, has recorded more than 1,600 COVID-19-related hoaxes from January 2020 to June 2021, according to Rizky Ika Syafitri, communication for development specialist at UNICEF Indonesia, who works closely with the government on its COVID-19 response.

A government task force has already been set up to identify hoaxes, and organizations like MAFINDO and UNICEF are working with the government to help counter them on social media platforms and messenger applications. Tackling the spread of hoaxes and misinformation has been challenging for these organizations, but they are finding different ways to address them.

Follow the money

There are several factors fueling the spread of COVID-19 hoaxes and misinformation across the country. People who’ve lost their jobs and sources of income have become resentful of COVID-19, and tend to believe what they find on social media, Sufehmi said. But some are monetizing the situation.

“There are always these persistent hoax actors … They are making money out of it somehow, usually by monetizing on YouTube or selling so-called COVID medicines or herbal medicine to prevent COVID,” he said.

International news can also fuel misinformation domestically. One of the latest misinformation MAFINDO has had to deal with stems from the anti-vaccination protest in France.

“People [are] saying that in France, people are boycotting the vaccine, so [the] vaccine is bad,” Sufehmi said.

Question on vaccines

Some of the most persistent hoaxes and misinformation are around COVID-19 vaccines. One that has consistently circulated on social media platforms is the theory that COVID-19 vaccines contain magnetic chips. And some are even making videos showing a coin or spoon attached to their arms to try to prove the theory.

In those cases, when just giving out facts doesn't work, Syafitri said “sometimes you have to fight a joke with a joke.”

“So for example, for that one, we also spread the video of I think it's a nurse trying to talk to Bill Gates … basically saying, hey, Bill Gates, can you send me $2,000?” she said.

But some hoaxes and misinformation around COVID-19 vaccinations also stem from a lack of, changing, or conflicting information that can be very challenging to explain.

“We conduct a routine survey with Nielsen every quarter, and we found that one of the reasons why people [are] still hesitant to get COVID-19 vaccination is actually the adverse event following immunization,” Syafitri said.

UNICEF and MAFINDO helped create a dedicated page providing information on adverse events following immunization. Syafitri said UNICEF also improved its approach in communicating adverse events. For instance, while they continue to explain that adverse events are rare after vaccination and that reaction can be strictly coincidental, they now acknowledge that it might happen and that it’s “perfectly normal.” They also communicated what individuals should do when they experience mild symptoms and when they should seek medical advice.

But even the right information can change over time.

The government has recently decided to provide third shots of the Moderna vaccine as a booster to health care workers amid an increase in COVID-19 cases among those who are already fully vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine. 

Over 1,631 health workers have died from COVID-19 in Indonesia, according to the latest data from LaporCOVID-19, a crowdsourcing platform for citizens reporting on COVID-19. The country has reached almost full vaccination coverage of health workers — 100% were administered their first doses and nearly 99% have received their second doses — according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health.

But the decision has sowed confusion among the general public — if all vaccines are effective then why is a different vaccine being given to health workers as a booster shot? It has led some people to favor one vaccine brand over another.

Syafitri said they have tried to explain to the public that health care workers are highly exposed to COVID-19, that the government needs to protect them, as Indonesia cannot afford to lose them. There are also more vaccines available now than when the country started its vaccination drive, which prioritized health care workers. But she admits it’s challenging.

“Right now, actually, the challenge is not so much on increasing people’s acceptance of the vaccines, but to convince people that the best vaccine is the one that is available for you,” Syafitri said.

According to World in Data, 16.6% of the Indonesian population has received at least one COVID-19 jab. But only 6.8% have been fully vaccinated.

Reaching the offline crowd

The government and its partners are employing different means to address hoaxes and misinformation. One is through digital literacy. At the government’s COVID-19 website, people can also click on “Hoax Buster,” which allows them to type in a keyword to fact check the information they’re looking for.

The Ministry of Information is also working with social media platforms to help take down content or accounts spreading hoaxes and misinformation.

But Syafitri and Sufehmi said attention should not solely focus on online content and social media platforms.

UNICEF is working with partners on interpersonal communication on the ground in which a midwife, humanitarian worker, or volunteer is given the training to communicate effectively with the public to facilitate behavior change. It has also partnered with two of the largest Muslim organizations in the country to work on the ground with their volunteers.

Some of these efforts are challenging to implement with the current surge in cases given the government-imposed movement restrictions, but Syafitri says that together with the government and partners they are finding ways to spread the right information, such as when people are on the queue waiting for their vaccination.

Sufehmi meanwhile said the government should also utilize the national television and radio to brief the population with the correct information on COVID-19 as almost 80% of Indonesians continue to rely on them for information.

“This is something that is not yet tapped. And this is a huge missed opportunity. That's what I've been saying to them [the government]. Hopefully, it's getting to them,” he added.

Whenever his team at MAFINDO engages with people on the ground or does surveys, “almost every single time people will say they have no idea what this COVID-19 is,” he said.