Indonesia Government urged to improve dialogue as online gambling spam spreads on social media

Legal practitioner Firman Tendry warned that Indonesia’s government must establish a more inclusive and responsive dialogue mechanism with the public, citing recent protests over the free nutritious‑meal program and a broader loss of public trust in President Prabowo Subianto’s administration. He stressed that delayed and reactive communication risks turning peaceful demonstrations into wider social tension.

Minister of Communication and Digital Meutya Hafid revealed a surge of online gambling promotion ("judol") spam comments, which rose 128 % in the fortnight of 14‑28 June 2026. Monitoring showed that 52 % of the spam targeted high‑engagement regional influencers, 31 % appeared on official government accounts, 12 % on media outlets and the remainder on public figures. The spam was most common on TikTok (35 %), followed by Facebook (28 %), Instagram (22 %), YouTube (10 %) and X (5 %). Authorities noted that many of the offending accounts are bots or fake profiles, complicating removal efforts.