Getting to Know Commercial Bots, the Engine Behind Massive Gambling Spam on Social Media
Online gambling spam on social media is becoming increasingly massive, especially since the 2026 World Cup kicked off. The Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs recorded that from January to June 2026, bot attacks promoting online gambling on social media increased by 128 per cent.
IT and digital forensics expert Ruby Alamsyah stated that the rampant spam is not carried out manually, but rather uses a commercial bot system with capabilities far more complex than simple bots. According to him, these bots are equipped with various features, including the ability to monitor posts that are going viral or trending in real time. In this way, online gambling promotions can reach more users in a short period.
“This bot has monitoring tools that can detect posts that are trending or viral in real time. After that, the bot will direct a network of fake accounts to flood the comment sections on those posts,” Ruby said when contacted by Republika on Thursday (2/7/2026).
He explained that behind this system lies a network of fake accounts managed centrally. Currently, devices to operate many social media accounts simultaneously are also being sold commercially. The operator only needs to give a command, and then all accounts in the network will automatically post comments according to the instructions. “The working pattern is simple. First, the system monitors posts that are going viral. Once a target is found, the network of fake accounts is sent to fill the comment section with online gambling promotions,” he said.
Ruby noted that the World Cup often becomes a major momentum for promoting online gambling, as perpetrators hope more people will see the promotions and eventually become interested in trying World Cup gambling. “Events like the World Cup are indeed a momentum they target. With the help of commercial bots, the spread of spam comments can be done much more massively,” he said.
How to outmanoeuvre it? From a digital forensics perspective, Ruby assesses that every system must have a certain pattern that can be studied. According to him, the first step needed is to obtain and analyse the commercial bots used by the perpetrators. Through a digital forensics process, the workings, methods, and automation techniques used can be learned. This then becomes the basis for developing detection and blocking mechanisms. “It is a tool, so it must have methods, techniques, and working patterns. If we can get the bot and then study it forensically, we can find the pattern which is then used to build a prevention system,” Ruby said.