Be Wary of Social Media Campaigns

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

A mobile phone displays a mosaic of legislative candidates’ social media campaigns on Tuesday (1/29/2019).

Buy big data from platform providers, sort user profiles according to the target, and then influence voter preference through social media.

This is the strategy of election campaigns in the digital era. The strategy was carried out on a massive scale and was later replicated in the US election from President Barack Obama to President Donald Trump.

Many political parties, legislative candidates and the presidential campaign teams have been intensively applying the strategy ahead of the simultaneous general election on April 17, 2019. Whether we realize it or not, they are flooding their targeted voters with campaign materials, both openly and covertly, through YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and short message services (SMS).

No studies have been made on the effectiveness of electoral campaigns on social media. However, considering the internet penetration and the large number of social media users in the country, it would be very naive to deem it non-strategic.

The number of internet users in Indonesia in 2018 was 143.26 million, according to data from the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association, or 54.68 percent of the population. Of this figure, about 130 million were active on social media. Internet penetration spans many age groups: 13-18 years (16.68 percent), 19-34 years (49.52 percent), 35-54 years (29.55 percent), and above 54 years (4.24 percent).

All-out efforts must be made to win the hearts of 192.8 million voters.

Unfortunately, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has not regulated this matter. It can be seen in the fact that Article 25, Paragraph (4) of KPU Regulation No. 33/2018, which regulates electoral campaigns, only stipulates a limited duration of 21 days for displaying campaign advertisements in print media, electronic media and broadcast media. It does not regulate campaign ads on social media.

Moreover, supervision over the quality of campaign content on social media continues to be ineffective. Complaints about hoaxes and fake news related to politics still abound. Content containing insults, provocation and shaming that spread hate is inevitable. Meanwhile, the brains behind these have not been revealed, including donors and platform organizers. It is also no secret that these social media campaigns are not an organic development, and are instead organized systematically.

In many developed countries, the phenomenon has reduced public confidence in social media. They have come to realize that social media, which was originally designed to promote social connections, has instead torn asunder societal ties. According to Syno International Omnibus Research’s 2018 study, the level of trust among social media users in South Korea is in the red at -30, while it is still high in the black in Indonesia at +40.

More stringent regulation and supervision is needed in a country with low literacy. Strict sanctions also need to be imposed on anyone who creates content that violate regulations. In this way, social media

campaigns could offer political education instead of political deception, let alone social destruction for the sake of fleeting interests.