Minister Claims Online Gambling Comment Spam Targets Regional Influencers

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Communication and Digital Meutya Hafid stated that spam comments containing online gambling promotional material are most commonly found on the social media accounts of regional influencers with high interaction rates.

“The primary target (of online gambling comment spam) has shifted, everyone. The distribution of targets shows that the accounts most heavily spammed are those with high engagement,” Meutya said during a press conference at the Ministry of Communication and Digital office in Jakarta on Tuesday.

She detailed that 52 per cent of detected online gambling comments were found on regional influencer accounts, 31 per cent on government institution accounts, 12 per cent on mass media accounts, and five per cent on public figure and politician accounts.

“Regional influencers are considered more effective because they have an audience that matches the target market of online gambling operators,” Meutya stated.

Furthermore, official accounts belonging to government institutions and mass media are also targeted because these accounts are difficult to block or have their access cut off, both by the government and digital platforms.

The Ministry of Communication and Digital recorded a 128 per cent increase in comments related to online gambling in the last two weeks (14-28 June 2026) compared to the previous monitoring period from January to 13 June 2026.

“We are announcing that the most spam comments related to online gambling are found on five social media platforms, especially on TikTok, which accounts for 35 per cent, followed by Facebook at 28 per cent, Instagram at 22 per cent, YouTube at 10 per cent, and X at 5 per cent,” Meutya said.