Kaspersky Reveals Shift in Online Gambling Promotion Patterns to Social Media
Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has revealed a significant change in the pattern of online gambling promotion. Perpetrators are now abandoning conventional methods such as static websites and digital advertisements, instead shifting towards the use of fake social media accounts and automated systems.
Country Manager of Kaspersky in Indonesia, Defi Nofitra, explained that online gambling promotions have become more adaptive. Illegal content frequently appears through spam comments on viral posts, high-interaction accounts, private messages, and the use of temporary links and URL shorteners.
“We are seeing a clear shift from static websites and banner ads to highly adaptive and automated distribution methods,” Defi said in a written statement on Thursday (16/7).
According to Defi, online gambling promotions were easier to identify several years ago because they relied on dedicated sites. Now, the content is disguised as regular user interaction, making moderation significantly more challenging for social media platforms.
The primary driver of this widespread dissemination is the use of bots. This technology allows perpetrators to automate spam comments on a massive scale. “Instead of replacing humans entirely, bots and automation amplify the scale and speed of these campaigns,” Defi added.
The phenomenon of rampant spam comments on popular posts indicates that online gambling promotion has evolved into an organised industry, rather than isolated individual activity.
Data from the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) shows that more than 1.3 million pieces of online gambling-related content were blocked between October 2024 and May 2025. Despite this high number of blocks, the scale of illegal promotion in the digital space remains a serious threat.
Defi asserted that eradicating online gambling cannot rely solely on website blocking. He called for stronger cross-sector collaboration to disrupt the broader ecosystem enabling these campaigns to spread.
“Stronger collaboration is needed between digital platforms, government agencies, cybersecurity firms, financial institutions, and the public to disrupt the wider ecosystem that allows these campaigns to proliferate,” he concluded.