BRIN Calls Online Gambling Take Advantage Of Young Generation Emotions

JAKARTA The latest research from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) reveals how online gambling advertisements take advantage of the feelings of young people. This study also highlights the weakness of Indonesia's digital ecosystem.

Research entitled Online Gambling in Indonesia: The New Cultural Capitalism in a State with Digital Gap is presented in the BRIN Publication Script Seminar. The vulnerable groups targeted in this problem are the younger generation and people with low income.

The Head of the BRIN Community and Cultural Research Center (PRMB) Research Team, Nina Widyawati, explained that online video consumption continues to increase and the circulation of digital money is not far from the risk of fraud. This is because digitalization facilitates promotion of online gambling through free content.

According to Nina, these advertisements often build instant wealth fantasy for young people. Nina added, "Young people who have a Fear of missing out are easy targets because they are afraid of being left behind and being tempted by the dream narrative to get rich quickly."

In his research, the BRIN research team used Sara Ahmed's effective economy framework which focuses on exploiting public emotions. They found that online gambling advertisements exploit young people's emotions, ranging from economic mobility expectations to financial anxiety.

This emotional exploitation can encourage high-risk economic action. In addition, BRIN also shows digital regulations that are still weak and lack of cross-platform supervision in Indonesia. As a result, online gambling advertisements easily qualify in various digital services.

Nina emphasized that this phenomenon has serious impacts. This not only affects consumption behavior, but also has a negative impact on the digital economy. Therefore, Nina emphasized the need for stronger regulation, a new digital literacy approach, and cross-institutional coordination.