TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jokowi-Ma`ruf campaign team secretary, Hasto Kristiyanto, denies that the Jokowi coalition had utilized the use of software bots in its social media campaigns.
“We practically never used the help of robots. Even if there is, the people using it are from volunteers,” said Hasto at the PDIP central executive office in Jakarta today, Nov. 15.
Hasto further explained that members of the coalition continue to use a human approach upon campaigning its incumbent presidential hopeful.
Ismail Fahmi, a social media expert, and Drone Emprit app developer alleged that the Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin campaign team has used robot technology in conducting their political campaigns in social media compared to the Prabowo – Sandiaga campaign team.
“Based on my observation, the campaign team of the number 1 candidate (Jokowi – Ma’ruf) is making the most out of it,” said Ismail after attending a discussion at the Le Meridien Hotel in Jakarta, on Wednesday, November 14.
Read: Democrat Says Prabowo-Sandiaga Not Using SBY-AHY Capacity
Ismail argued that social media robot accounts are used to boost the performance of an issue and help popularize it in social media. He maintained that it is easy for him to detect which contents are made viral with the help of these robot accounts.
He indicated that it can be detected by the number of similar tweets from different unique users. Another way, he said, is a large number of retweets by a single user within a small time frame.
Ismail did in fact state that there was nothing wrong with the use of social media bot accounts in promoting a presidential hopeful’s ideas and programs. However, he questioned the effectiveness of such a move since it reduces the possibility of engaging in interactions.
DEWI NURITA
