Social media will play a central role in the 2024 general election, as politicians double down on their online presence to woo young voters who use such platforms as their main source of information.

But memories of widespread online misinformation and bitter polarization in previous elections still linger, prompting questions of whether election organizers will manage to protect digital discourse from such pitfalls this time around.

A recent survey by the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) focusing on the electoral outlook of prospective voters between the ages of 17 and 39 showed that social media was the go-to source of information and platform for political expression for young people.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they got their information on current events chiefly from social media, while 32 percent said they got it from television. The proportion of people who preferred social media nearly doubled from a similar 2018 survey. Television was the preferred choice in 2018, with 41.3 percent of respondents citing it as their chief source of information.

The survey also showed a significant increase in the number of social media accounts that people used across different platforms.

“I think social media [campaign success] will be the most sought after in the upcoming elections. Aside from its prominence, social media campaigns are cheaper, farther-reaching and can be done more frequently than public gatherings,” said Arya Fernandes, head of the CSIS department of politics.

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