JAKARTA – The government through the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Kemkomdigi) reminds the public to be careful with online gambling advertisements that are rampant on social media. The Director of Media Management of the Directorate General of Public Communication and Media (KPM) Kemkomdigi, Nursodik Gunarjo, emphasized that clicking on online gambling advertisements can endanger the security of personal data.
“When we click on an online gambling ad, the algorithm in the ad will record our personal data. Even if it has been deleted, the ad can appear again with a different appearance later,” said Nursodik
Nursodik explained that Kemkomdigi had attempted to delete online gambling accounts and their affiliates, but the advertisements continued to appear under different names.
“From 2017 to December 4, 2024, Kemkomdigi has handled more than 5.3 million online gambling accounts. A significant increase occurred in 2024 with 3.6 million accounts blocked, a three-fold increase compared to 2023,” he explained.
In addition, Nursodik said that online gambling players are dominated by the 30-50 year old age group, which reaches 1.84 million people. Even more concerning, Kemenkomdigi data also noted that there are around 30 thousand children under the age of 10 who are involved in online gambling.
“For parents, if children suddenly spend more time in their rooms, it could be an indication that they are caught up in online gambling,” he added.
The negative impacts of online gambling are enormous, ranging from financial losses, decreased productivity, mental health disorders, to social and legal problems. Nursodik stated that most online gamblers start from the trial phase, which eventually gets trapped in addiction.
In an effort to eradicate online gambling, Kemkomdigi is working with the Police, Bank Indonesia, the Financial Services Authority, and providing an account checking platform to determine whether an account is involved in a crime.
Meanwhile, the Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment, Muhaimin Iskandar, also appealed to the Ministry of Communication and Digital to work more optimally in eradicating online gambling.
“Online gambling is actually a large-scale fraud that harms the purchasing power of lower-class people,” he said.
Muhaimin stressed the importance of closing all online gambling sites to protect the public from further losses.
