Indonesia, Meta launch team to combat online gambling spam

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Communication and Digital Ministry (Komdigi) and technology giant Meta have set up a team dedicated to combat online gambling-related content from spreading primarily through social media comments.

"We have agreed to set up a joint team to resolve online gambling promotion on social media platforms, especially to address the spam comments that have generated a significant number of public complaints," Minister Meutya Hafid stated on Tuesday.

She said the approach to eradicate online gambling-related spam comments may be expanded to other platforms besides Meta, which operates Instagram and Facebook.

The minister explained that the perpetrators spammed social media comments to promote online gambling, a tactic she considered "new."

Moreover, the ministry recorded a 128-percent surge of online gambling-related comments in the last two weeks compared with findings in the January-June 2026 period.

Cyber analysis found that the perpetrators deployed organized bot networks to flood the comment section of posts made by popular social media accounts with high public reach, such as those owned by government agencies, public figures, and influencers.

The ministry is collaborating with Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), the Financial Services Authority (OJK), and the police to resolve the issue, she added.

Meanwhile, Meta's director for public policy in Southeast Asia, Sarim Aziz, stressed that online gambling is a cross-border issue which eradication efforts require collective action.

"It is carried out by perpetrators highly motivated by financial gain, and not a single company can resolve this issue alone," Aziz said.

Online gambling perpetrators are developing new tactics to avoid the platform's automatic detection system, including by manipulating key words in their messages and comments, he stated.

Hence, Meta welcomed collaborations with the ministry and law enforcers to prevent and stop online gambling activities.

"We need to increase policy enforcement through artificial intelligence technology, better human moderation, and more effective AI systems," Aziz remarked.

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Translator: Farhan Arda N, Nabil Ihsan

Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga

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