Politician Recommends ID Number for Social Media Registration

TheIndonesia.co - Speaker of People's Consultative Assembly Bambang Soesatyo recommends the use of ID Number for social media registration. He asked the government to study this.

“Social media is no longer just for entertainment. Instead, it has become an identity that must be known with certainty who the owner (behind the account) is," said Bamsoet, Bambang Soesatyo's nickname, in a statement received in Jakarta by Antara news agency, Monday, December 6, 2021.

He warned anybody can create hundreds, even thousands of accounts freely whose identities are vague. This ability can ease somebody to exercise various irresponsible actions such as carrying out acts of intolerance, spreading radicalism and extremism, to spreading hoaxes and hate speech.

Bamsoet who speaks on behalf of the People's Consultative Assembly, a legislative body in Indonesia, calls the government to study further the need to use the ID Number as a term & condition for opening accounts on social media as it has been implemented by the government for sim cards registration.

"The use of ID Number as a registration requirement for making social media is one alternative that must be studied further," he said.

Bamsoet added that the Ministry of Communication and Information could become the leading sector. The MoCI sits together with social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp, and so on, to discuss the use of the ID Number and details to guarantee personal data protection.

This idea, he said, is based on Kompas' Research and Development survey conducted on 17-19 May 2021 by telephone to respondents aged 17-34 years. The survey found out that social media such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, and others were the biggest tools for launching intolerance, which is considered by 51.9 percent, respondents.

"Previously, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) in 2020 reported that the potential for Gen-Z (age range 14-19 years) to be exposed to radicalism reached 12.7 percent. While the millennial generation (aged 20-39 years) reached 12.4 percent. Gen-Z and millennials are easy targets because they are very active in accessing the internet and are active users of various social media platforms," said Bamsoet who is a politician from the Golongan Karya Party.

The Deputy Chairperson of the Golkar Party emphasized that Indonesia must not be destroyed just because of the irresponsible use of social media and anonymous accounts or buzzers who spread disinformation or misinformation.

"Therefore, in order not to become a wild weapon, every social media user must be ensured to have a clear identity and can be accounted for if something improper happens," said Bamsoet.