Antara News·Indonesia·Friday, September 25, 2026 at 05:54 AM

Fighting disinformation to foster peace: The role of news agencies

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Teguh Imam Wibowo, Katriana

Semarang (ANTARA) - 2026 may prove to be one of the most turbulent years in a century.

The turbulence stems not only from rising temperatures and extreme droughts in various parts of the world, but also from escalating political tensions across several regions.

The Russia-Ukraine war has dragged on for years with no clear end in sight. The United States (US) and Israeli strikes on Iran have widened the conflict in the Middle East, while disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have raised concerns over crude oil supplies.

Tensions involving Saudi Arabia and the Houthi militia have also disrupted maritime traffic in the region.

In South America, Argentina has again raised the issue of the Malvinas Islands, known in Britain as the Falkland Islands, on the international political stage following its runner-up finish at the 2026 World Cup.

These developments represent only a fraction of the conflicts and tensions affecting different parts of the world. Southeast Asia has also experienced armed clashes between neighboring countries, including Thailand and Cambodia in 2025.

Beyond armed conflict, another threat with far-reaching consequences is the spread of false and misleading information.

Digital technology has made it easier for content that fuels disputes to circulate rapidly across borders. Disinformation and misinformation have become significant global risks, with the World Economic Forum's 2026 assessment placing them among the most serious short-term global risks, alongside social polarization and geoeconomic confrontation.

More than 80 percent of experts surveyed globally said the disinformation crisis is already having an impact on political stability.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has added another layer to the problem. Deepfake fraud cases have reportedly increased by 3,000 percent globally, making it easier to produce and distribute deceptive content at scale. At the same time, many institutions and governments still lack formal plans to respond to disinformation-related crises.

Indonesia faces a similar challenge. The Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs recorded 16,999 hoax and disinformation issues on social media between August 2018 and July 2026, while around 800,000 websites were identified as potentially spreading such content.

Against this backdrop, Indonesia's national news agency ANTARA has taken a step toward strengthening cross-border cooperation on information integrity.

The annual meeting of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) in Moscow, attended by 35 of its 41 members, provided momentum for establishing a permanent working mechanism for cross-border news verification as disinformation becomes increasingly amplified by AI.

The initiative is significant because OANA brings together news agencies from countries that account for a large share of the world's population and information landscape. Some of those countries are also neighbors with longstanding political differences and competing interests.

ANTARA President Director Benny Siga Butarbutar has emphasized that disinformation is no longer merely a media problem, but an accelerator of broader global risks. If disinformation can move across borders without restraint, he said, accurate information must move faster and collectively.

That principle is central to the role of a national news agency. Accuracy, speed and quality are fundamental to news agencies, which provide information to the public and serve as important sources for other media.

The scale of OANA's network gives that cooperation added significance. OANA member countries have a combined population estimated at 4.74 billion, more than half of the world's population, including major population centers such as India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and Japan.

The member agencies also operate in some of the world's largest and most digitally connected information markets. Across OANA member countries, Internet users are estimated at 3.2 billion to 3.3 billion, while social media identities number around 2.5 billion.

Indonesia alone has around 230 million Internet users, 331 million active mobile connections and approximately 180 million social media identities. China has about 1.1 billion Internet users, while India's total is close to 1 billion. Internet penetration in the Gulf countries has reached around 100 percent.

As digital connectivity expands, the volume and speed of information circulating across these markets will continue to grow. This creates greater opportunities for reliable information to reach the public, but also greater room for false narratives to spread.

As Benny has noted, populations that increasingly depend on mobile devices and digital platforms can be exposed to false narratives at increasing speed.

This is where cooperation among news agencies can serve a broader public purpose. If verified information can cross borders as quickly as false information, news agencies can help reduce uncertainty when societies face competing narratives during political or geopolitical tensions.

The proposed shift from OANA as a platform for exchanging news to a broader regional information integrity network could provide a practical framework for that cooperation. Cross-border verification, faster information sharing and stronger coordination among member agencies could help news organizations respond collectively when false or misleading narratives emerge.

The objective is not to eliminate disagreement between countries. News agencies cannot resolve geopolitical disputes. Their role is more concrete: to ensure that disagreements are debated on the basis of information that has been checked, attributed and responsibly reported.

Amid an increasingly crowded and fragmented information environment, OANA has an opportunity to become a trusted reference point when conflicting narratives spread across borders.

For national news agencies, that role extends beyond delivering news. As the voices of their nations, they can also help keep channels of communication open and make information cooperation a practical form of peaceful diplomacy.

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