Indonesia tackles surge of online gambling comment spam on social media

Illegal online gambling syndicates have shifted to "comment spam farming" on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok, using centrally controlled bots or shadow accounts to automatically post thousands of promotional links to user posts. Pratama Persadha, chairman of the Cyber Security Research Institute (CISSReC), described the tactic as "a new modus that relies on high‑volume distribution" and noted that the shift follows stricter government blocking of gambling sites.

Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said the operation monitors social‑media activity in real time and targets accounts that experience spikes in engagement. She reported that 52% of the spam appears on regional influencer accounts, 31% on government agency accounts, 12% on mass‑media accounts and 5% on public‑figure accounts. Hafid called for cross‑agency collaboration and cooperation from platform providers to strengthen prevention and enforcement against the spread of gambling‑related spam.