Digital Spark Challenge 2024: Indonesia-Australia Collaboration Creates Creative Solutions to Combat Fake News

Sat, 05 Oct 2024 09:15 | News | Editorial INTI

Jakarta, INTI - The digital era has brought great convenience in spreading information but also created significant opportunities for the dissemination of fake news and disinformation. Addressing this issue, Indonesia and Australia have partnered through the Digital Spark Challenge 2024 (Ideathon), engaging young people from ASEAN, Timor-Leste, and Australia to develop creative solutions for countering fake news.

In the event held in South Jakarta on Thursday (03/10/2024), Secretary General of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo), Mira Tayyiba, stated that the Ideathon served as an important platform for the younger generation to innovate and contribute to solving global issues related to fake news.

“The Ideathon gives young people the opportunity to actively participate in tackling fake news through their creative ideas. Through workshops and mentoring, participants gained a deep understanding of how to identify and combat fake news that is widespread on social media,” explained Mira Tayyiba.

Preparing a Resilient Generation in the Digital Age

In her speech, Secretary General Mira Tayyiba emphasized the importance of shaping a resilient and informed society capable of tackling the increasingly complex challenges of information in the digital age. She also highlighted how platforms like the Digital Spark Challenge could encourage cross-cultural cooperation and strengthen young people's creativity in fighting the spread of fake news and disinformation.

“With this event, we can foster collaboration between young people across countries, enabling them to play a more active role in addressing global challenges, particularly the widespread dissemination of hoaxes and disinformation,” she said.

Workshops to Combat Disinformation

Initiated by The Asia Foundation and Love Frankie, the event aimed to empower young people to combat fake news through effective social media campaigns. Over the three-day workshop, participants learned about various topics related to misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes, hate speech, online fraud, and identifying AI-generated manipulative content.

A total of 21 teams from different ASEAN, Timor-Leste, and Australian countries participated in the event. Each team was mentored by experts to design social media campaigns aimed at combating fake news effectively. In the end, the NoFake Duo team from the Philippines won first place, followed by The Overland from Australia and Srikandi from Indonesia in second and third place, respectively.

Regional Collaboration to Combat Fake News

The Digital Spark Challenge 2024 is also part of the ASEAN Task Force on Fake News, led by Indonesia. The event highlights the importance of cross-country collaboration in building a more credible and accountable information ecosystem.

At the closing ceremony, Secretary General Mira Tayyiba emphasized that the innovative solutions developed by the participants were critical steps in the collective effort to combat fake news.

“The solutions generated by the participants are highly innovative and relevant to today’s challenges. This represents a significant step in forming a society that is more prepared to combat the threats of fake news in the digital era,” she said.

The event was also attended by prominent figures, including the Australian Ambassador to ASEAN, H.E. Tiffany McDonald, as well as representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat and participating countries. This cross-country collaboration demonstrates ASEAN and Australia’s strong commitment to finding effective solutions to fight disinformation.