Disinformation Spreads on Social Media During Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Election

Indonesia’s recent presidential election has highlighted a growing challenge to democratic processes worldwide: the proliferation of disinformation on social media platforms. As voters headed to the polls on February 7, 2024, they did so in an information environment clouded by false narratives and manipulated content targeting the three presidential tickets.

Data analyzed from fact-checking organizations shows that disinformation increased dramatically in the months leading up to the election. Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi reported that by early January 2024, his department had addressed 203 election-related disinformation issues spread across 2,882 pieces of content on various digital platforms.

The digital landscape proved fertile ground for these campaigns, with Facebook hosting 1,325 pieces of false content, followed by X (formerly Twitter) with 947, TikTok with 342, Instagram with 198, and smaller numbers on Snack Video and YouTube platforms.

“Digital media played a very significant role in spreading disinformation, which disrupted the democratic process in Indonesia,” said a researcher studying the phenomenon. The problem reflects a global trend where electoral politics has entered a new era mediated by social media, allowing for continuous campaigning without geographical limitations.

Among the three candidate pairs, Anies Baswedan and running mate Muhaimin Iskandar (ticket number one) faced the highest volume of disinformation. According to analyses by fact-checking organizations Tirto and Tempo, Baswedan was targeted in 38% of Tirto’s fact-check articles and nearly 56% of Tempo’s.

Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka (ticket number two) and Ganjar Pranowo with Mahfud MD (ticket number three) also faced significant disinformation attacks, though at lower volumes than Baswedan.

The content of these disinformation campaigns varied widely. Research shows that 59% focused on political issues, while others centered on legal matters (22.5%), character assassination (7%), racist content (5.6%), and various other topics. For Baswedan specifically, 62.5% of disinformation content was negative, with the remainder being misleadingly positive.

Most concerning is that a survey by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Safer Internet Lab found that over 42% of Indonesians believed disinformation about the 2024 election. This highlights the real-world impact of these digital campaigns on voter perceptions.

Facebook emerged as the primary platform for distributing disinformation, with YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter following. The most effective format was video accompanied by text, accounting for over 70% of disinformation content identified by fact-checkers.

“In the 2024 Election, social media algorithms like TikTok’s allow even small accounts to reach the For You Page with great exposure potential,” noted Ika Karlina Idris, Associate Professor at Monash University Indonesia. This represents a shift from 2019, when disinformation primarily spread from large accounts to smaller ones.

The timing of these campaigns was strategic, with data showing that disinformation spiked between July and October 2023, coinciding with the candidate registration period and early campaign activities.

Industry experts have also warned about the increasing sophistication of disinformation techniques. Kaspersky, a cybersecurity firm, cautioned about the threat of deepfake content during the election. Their research revealed that deepfake videos now fetch between $4,700 and $316,000 per minute on underground markets.

The impact extends beyond the election itself. The polarization driven by disinformation affects social relations and individual political choices. When people are trapped in filter bubbles on social media, they tend to only receive information that reinforces existing beliefs, making constructive political dialogue increasingly difficult.

“Indonesia, as a principled country, needs a more rational way to deal with these differences,” said one political analyst. “Uncontrolled polarization can cause differences that are difficult to bridge and threaten social balance.”

As Indonesia moves forward from this election, the challenge of combating disinformation remains. For future elections, experts recommend that voters, particularly first-time voters, become not just technologically literate but politically aware, studying candidates’ track records and maintaining openness to factual information from diverse sources.