Alia Y. Karunian
Social Media and Political Ads in Indonesia 

 

The emergence of social media has fundamentally changed the way political campaigns work today. A vast amount of data is being collected, analyzed, and used to craft political messages tailored to individual voters through their social media accounts. With over 150 million active users, Indonesia is one of the largest social media markets in the world. Several political actors have publicly acknowledged online political microtargeting and big data analysis as their strategies in winning elections. How has social media been used to deliver political messages in the 2019 General Election and what are the current challenges to political advertising regulations in Indonesia?