Jakarta, Indonesia

The three candidates are set to contest presidential polls in Indonesia on Wednesday (Feb 14) and are joining the social media bandwagon to woo the young voters of the country.

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The presidential candidates have taken to TikTok where they can be seen sharing videos of them dancing and also answering questions in real-time during livestreamed sessions. 

The short-form video hosting service, which has a user base of over 125 million in Indonesia, has turned into the second-most used application for Indonesians, after television, which they rely on for information related to politics, as per a January survey by pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia. Hence, the growing popularity during the campaign period.

"We can easily find information about Prabowo on TikTok," the news agency quoted voter Irene as saying.

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'TikTok the most appealing app for first-time voters'

The online battleground is the most appealing way to lure first-time voters who spend most of their time surfing these applications, say experts.

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One of the presidential candidates, Prabowo Subianto, who was a once-feared military man, has now become the new internet sensation, who with his awkward dance moves has taken the internet by storm.

His rivals Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo are also making efforts to grab the attention of netizens by answering questions in real-time during livestreamed sessions or sharing videos of heartfelt encounters with voters.

"TikTok 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," the news agency quoted Anita Wahid, a researcher who has worked with TikTok on issues related to online trust and safety, as saying.

However, some experts have raised concerns saying that some of the information circulated on such platforms may be incorrect.

TikTok on its website says that its policy is to eliminate "harmful misinformation" and work with fact-checkers to flag or debunk it.

"We prioritise protecting the integrity of elections on our platform so that our community can continue to enjoy creative and entertaining TikTok experiences," a TikTok spokesperson said in an email.

(With inputs from agencies)