Brawl between two Twitter users, @panca66 and @redinparis on Wednesday evening at Istora Senayan, South Jakarta
In relation to the brawl last night between two men that resulted from a “Tweet war,” the police are urging netizens not to take on social media bullies on their own. After all, we have laws to regulate people’s conducts online.
Jakarta Police Spokesman Grand Comm Martinus Sitompul said Twitter users like @panca66 and @redinparis did not have to solve their differences with a physical fight. Doing so would only mean that they are breaking even more laws.
“If one is offended, the citizen can report it to the police because they’re protected by the Information and Electronic Transaction Act (UU ITE),” Martinus said, as quoted by Kompas today.
Referring to the brawl last night, Martinus said such an act could potentially lead to serious consequences like serious injuries or even death.
“Social media should be used wisely. If there are differences in opinion, that is normal,” he said.
Perhaps @panca66 and @redinparis could’ve and should’ve let the police settle their differences before anybody got hurt. The UU ITE is not a law that is to be taken lightly, after all. Who can forget the sate seller who was arrested for uploading photoshopped pornographic photos of President Joko Widodo?
