Komdigi: Comment Spam Promoting Judol Target Regional Influencer Accounts

JAKARTA - The Minister of Communication and Digital, Meutya Hafid, emphasized that the modus operandi of promoting online gambling that is spread through spam comments on social media does not only target one platform, but also on various platforms.

Based on his findings, Komdigi said the number of judol spam comments increased by 128 percent with TikTok being the platform most used by perpetrators.

"The most is on 5 social media platforms, especially on Tiktok, which is recorded at 35 percent, Facebook 28 percent, Instagram 22 percent, Youtube 10 percent, and X 5 percent," Meutya said in a press conference on Tuesday, June 30.

According to Meutya, the data shows that online gambling perpetrators have changed the strategy of spreading promotions by targeting various platforms at once.

Meutya also mentioned certain accounts that were the target of spam comments promoting online gambling. Based on the results of Komdigi's monitoring, accounts with high interaction rates are the main targets of perpetrators.

A total of 52 percent of judol spam comments were found on regional influencer accounts, followed by government agency accounts at 31 percent, mass media at 12 percent, and public figures and politicians at 5 percent.

Meutya explained that the regional influencer account was the main target because it was considered to have an audience that matched the market of online gambling operators.

"Second, because they also see that official accounts like this will be difficult to disconnect by Komdigi and by the platform," he added.

He explained that the spam attack was carried out using an automated system or bot, which monitors social media activity in real time, detects spikes in interactions on an account, and automatically sends thousands of spam comments to multiple platforms at once.

To overcome this problem, Komdigi and Meta agreed to form a joint team to strengthen the handling of online gambling, especially those using the spam comment mode.

In the future, the team will also be expanded by involving other digital platforms including TikTok, YouTube, and X, as well as law enforcement officers.

"We have agreed to form a joint team in addressing the problem of online gambling on the platform, especially spam in the comment column. Later, it will not only involve Meta, but also other platforms, the police, PPATK, and OJK," he said.