MODERNCAMPAIGN This photo taken on Jan. 10 shows a man recording a campaign video for social media to be used by Ukon Furkon Sukanda, a legislative candidate of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, in Tangerang, Banten province. 鈥擜FP
JAKARTA鈥擜t an Indonesian presidential campaign event, 22-year-old voter Irene Putri Aisyah was busy uploading everything she saw鈥攆rom cute dances to cooking demonstrations鈥攖o short video app TikTok.
To court young voters like Irene, all three candidates in the Feb. 14 race to lead Indonesia have gravitated toward TikTok, which has 125 million users in the country, second only to the United States.
But experts say the platform is also flooded with problematic content that attempts to manipulate young voters, who make up over half of about 205 million registered voters in the country.
In this new online battleground, Prabowo Subianto, a once-feared military man, has rebranded himself as a cuddly statesman. Videos of his awkward dance moves, reminiscent of local martial arts, have got millions of views, inspiring others to mimic him.
When the front-runner faced stinging barbs from rivals in a televised debate, women supporters shared videos of themselves crying for Prabowo.
Rivals Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo have also ramped up their presence on the app, answering questions in real-time during livestreamed sessions or sharing videos of heartfelt encounters with voters.
鈥淭ikTok is the most appealing app for first-time voters, so it does have a big influence as a platform to campaign and propagate election-related information,鈥� said Anita Wahid, a researcher who has worked with TikTok on issues related to online trust and safety.
Enduring popularity
During the campaign period, TikTok became Indonesians鈥� second-most used source of information on politics, after television, according to a January survey by pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia.
鈥淲e can easily find information about Prabowo on TikTok,鈥� voter Irene said.
But experts have flagged some of this information may be incorrect.
Endah Triastuti, a communications researcher at the University of Indonesia, says that because of such content, many young voters may not be aware that Prabowo has been forced to deny allegations of human rights abuses during his time as special forces commander.
Manipulated images and 鈥渄eepfake鈥� videos of the candidates have also circulated widely.
TikTok says on its website its policy is to remove 鈥渉armful misinformation鈥� and work with fact-checkers to flag or debunk it. Political ads and fundraising are also banned on the platform.
READ: How Indonesia holds the world鈥檚 biggest single-day election
鈥淲e prioritize protecting the integrity of elections on our platform so that our community can continue to enjoy creative and entertaining TikTok experiences,鈥� a TikTok spokesperson said in an email.
Young voters prefer to see candidates create fun content, which explains the app鈥檚 enduring appeal and success in this election, said researcher Anita Wahid.
鈥淭his is a new battle.鈥� 鈥搁贰鲍罢贰搁厂