Thammasat University students interested in ASEAN studies, Indonesia, political science, and related subjects may find it useful to participate in a free 24 April Zoom webinar on Different Frontiers of Social Media War in Indonesia Elections.

The event, on Wednesday, 24 April 2024 at 9am Bangkok time, is presented by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.

The TU Library collection includes several books about the politics of Indonesia.

As explained on the event website,

About the Webinar

In this modern era, technological developments and increasing dependence on social media have changed the political landscape drastically. Social media has changed the way politicians communicate with voters. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram give candidates direct access to share their political views, plans, and messages. It succeeded in creating a new image for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates which influenced the direction of the public’s choice.

Like the previous election, in the 2024 General Elections, social media became the stage for complex political battles. On the one hand, social media has increased young voters’ participation, who feel more involved in the political process through active campaigns on social platforms. On the other hand, social media has become an effective means for spreading false information and hoaxes that can confuse voters and damage the integrity of elections.

This webinar discusses the role of social media platforms during the 2024 General Elections, such as TikTok, in influencing public or voter perceptions. The speaker will explain several phenomena of social media use that effectively influence public choices. He will also examine where are the different frontiers of the social media war in Indonesia elections.

About the Speaker

Ismail Fahmi, Ph.D, is an information scientist who teaches at the University of Islam Indonesia (UII) in Yogyakarta. […]

Students are invited to register at this link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4717116139176/WN_YWpT6lH6RPuGaswY_2Ohcw#/registration

During an ISEAS webinar last year, Dr. Fahmi  

explored the use of artificial intelligence in political campaigning and its impact on society. He began by providing a brief introduction on the development of AI approaches, emphasizing that the learning process of any AI approach relied heavily on the input data. This in turn could lead to misuse, especially when data being inputted into the AI system are often biased in nature. People could use these biased contents to drive certain perspectives and sentiments towards the presidential candidates. That being said, presidential candidates could also use AI approaches in a positive manner, mainly to generate content for their campaigns. This would aid in increasing the frequency of their political messages on these social media platforms, allowing them to spread to a broader audience.  This also helped in boosting the visibility of these political candidates on social media platforms.

Similarly, AI can be used to generate fake information, such as fake images or fake dialogues, through chatbots. These comments, generated using AI tools, could influence public opinion and thus their belief. Moreover, the fake dialogues generated by Chatbots can give a false impression of engagement, leading to less personal engagement and potential misunderstanding if the AI does not accurately interpret the users’ posts. In that sense, people with a less sophisticated understanding of AI could use these tools to generate content to boost particular political agenda. This could lead to an overwhelming amount of low-quality AI-generated content being produced. All these could result in a higher risk of misinformation, which could distort voters’ perception of certain candidates. Dr Fahmi, therefore, believed that there is a need to have a global and national regulatory body to regulate the use of AI in all aspects, including its usage during electoral campaigning.

The webinar was attended by 95 participants from the region and beyond. During the Q&A session, speakers discussed key topics such as the possibility of foreign state operators using AI to influence the upcoming 2024 elections, the lack of a policy outline for social media usage in the forthcoming elections, key challenges in regulating AI usage, Indonesia current level of awareness towards disinformation and the effects of civil society organizations in mitigating such effects. Lastly, a question was raised on the potentiality of Indonesia’s presidential candidates using TikTok as a form of outreach to the voters, given that this mode of communication was the main driving factor in attracting young Malaysian voters during their recent General elections. Dr Fahmi believed that there is a high chance that the presidential candidates in Indonesia would use this platform to drive engagement with the society. That being said, he also cautioned the need to regulate its usage, as well as making sure that the information posted online is credible to prevent misinformation.

Earlier this year, a paper posted on the website of the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore concluded:

First, the presence of younger demographics in the voter base incentivises candidates to tailor their campaigns to match their needs. While the Gen-Z and millennial generations care for relatively novel issues like climate change, they have nonchalant attitudes to democracy and human rights issues, compared with their older counterparts.

Second, as sources of credible information, greater importance is placed on peer-to-peer influence than on the established mass media in the upcoming elections. This is due to the increasing use of social media and the growing lack of trust in formal institutions.

Finally, there are early signs of the use of identity politics. If a second round of elections has to be held for the presidency, those early signs could be exacerbated and the polarising dynamics of the 2014 and 2019 could re-emerge.

Last year, the Southeast Asia Globe website posted an article,

As Indonesia’s elections approach, buzzers jeopardise democracy

As the 2024 elections approach in Indonesia, individuals or groups known as buzzers are disseminating content on social media platforms, amidst growing concern that they are polarising opinion and posing a threat to democracy and free speech

As Indonesia approaches almost any notable political event, social media users can expect to see a wave of commentary from an increasingly prominent source: the buzzers.

Buzzer refers to individuals or groups paid to produce and disseminate content on social media platforms. They’re believed to be frequently sought after by political campaigns and interest groups in order to influence public opinion but, given the nature of their messaging, it’s difficult to clearly link them to their patrons.

Many buzzers function as influencers, positioning themselves as alternatives to the mainstream media offering privileged information to the public – almost like a citizen journalist might.

As the highly anticipated 2024 national election draws closer, digital rights experts caution that buzzer-like tactics could further drive polarisation, jeopardise democracy, and hinder free speech in the digital space.

“If this is allowed to continue, the public might feel that there is a rift in the community, when in reality, it’s just buzzer playing with issues,” said Ismail Fahmi, founder of Drone Emprit, which monitors social and digital media platforms.

The use of buzzers in Indonesia echoes tactics seen elsewhere in Southeast Asia, from the “troll army” of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to the Vietnamese cyber unit. […]

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)