Govt-Meta joint team key to combating online gambling: Expert

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The special team established by Indonesia's Communication and Digital Ministry (Komdigi) and technology giant Meta to combat online gambling will play a key role in facilitating cross-sectoral collaboration to advance the efforts.

"The government should strengthen coordination between the ministry, the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), and the police to identify and resolve the online gambling issue," Alfons Tanujaya, cybersecurity expert and deputy chairperson of the Association of National ICT Entrepreneurs (Aptiknas), stated on Saturday.

Blocking online gambling websites only partially resolves the issue, as the perpetrators, motivated by financial gains, will continue to create new platforms, he said, while highlighting the continued demand for such illegal websites among internet users in Indonesia.

The decision by Komdigi and Meta to establish the joint team is a step in the right direction, as it will provide the government with a platform to coordinate with social media operators in tackling online gambling content.

"Digital platforms hold all the data and have access to it. The IP addresses of those posting these comments are recorded by the platforms," he stated, referring to the recent tactic of flooding social media comment sections with online gambling promotions.

The cybersecurity expert said the ministry should collaborate with other government agencies to shut down the funding channels and trace the networks of online gambling syndicates.

Tanujaya is also optimistic that the joint team set up by Komdigi and Meta will help stakeholders determine their roles and functions in the collective goal to eradicate online gambling.

Communication and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid on Tuesday (30/6) announced the formation of a joint team dedicated to combating online gambling-related content from spreading primarily through social media comments.

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

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.

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Translator: Livia Kristianti, Nabil Ihsan

Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga

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