Legal Disruptions Related to the Utilization of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Advertising in Indonesia:What We Can Do?

The escalating prevalence of misleading healthcare advertising, significantly amplified by Artificial Intelligence in cyberspace, poses profound legal disruptions within Indonesia. This study examines how Artificial Intelligence contributes to the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation in health advertisements and critically analyses the inherent limitations of current Indonesian regulatory frameworks. Our findings reveal Artificial Intelligence's predominant use in generating deepfake representations of public figures, illicitly enhancing product credibility and circumventing verification. Such practices fundamentally breach principles of accountability and transparency, complicating regulatory enforcement, especially given the transnational nature of foreign disinformation agencies. Programmatic advertising schemes further erode media editorial oversight, facilitating the deceptive infiltration of fabricated, misleading advertisements that bypass traditional controls. Despite existing enforcement measures by the Food and Drug Administration of the Republic of Indonesia (BPOM) and the Indonesian Press Council, responses remain largely reactive. Indonesian regulations are critically hampered by a lack of harmonization across sectoral laws, insufficient oversight of Artificial Intelligence in content distribution, and limited internet intermediary responsibility under safe harbor policies. A significant deficit in intermediary transparency and accountability regarding algorithmic operations further exacerbates these regulatory gaps. Drawing from international precedents, this research suggests Indonesia could adopt strategies emphasizing enhanced transparency and accountability, leveraging Artificial Intelligence for disinformation detection, imposing greater intermediary liability, fostering multi-stakeholder regulatory models, and robustly strengthening public digital literacy. These comprehensive legal and policy strategies are imperative for mitigating misinformation risks and bolstering public communication integrity in healthcare.