‘BLOCK PORN OR BE BLOCKED’
World’s biggest social-media providers told to filter obscene content in Indonesia
INDONESIA has threatened to bar the world’s biggest social-media providers from operating in the country unless they comply with stringent demands to filter pornography and other content deemed obscene.
Twitter Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and a host of companies have been put on notice by Indonesian Communications Minister Rudiantara, who warned that “all platforms” now face serious consequences if they don’t adhere to government requests to block content.
“The worst case is I will not allow them to be in Indonesia," said Rudiantara in an interview on Thursday. “We are focusing on content. If you violate content then you are violating rules and laws in Indonesia.”
Twitter, Google and Facebook are all also blocked in China.
Indonesia last week threatened to block the use of Facebook Inc’s messaging service WhatsApp unless it removed obscene content available as GIF images. WhatsApp was allowed to continue operating after agreements to filter images and videos were reached with third-party services that provide GIFs.
Samuel Abrijani, director-general for Application and Informatics at the Communications Ministry, said executives from Google and Twitter would be summoned for meetings with government officials to discuss what action they would take to monitor content. He gave no details on timing.
The minister, who’s previously served on the boards of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia and PT Indosat, said he wanted to work with content providers to help improve the literacy of Indonesians.
“They must at this stage help us to filter content that violates the rules and regulations of the country,” he said.
He said Google has shown “the most good will” and had been receptive to requests to help monitor social media. Facebook, which counts almost 90 million Indonesians among its users, has also previously agreed to work with the government.
Amid the crackdown on social media platforms, President Joko Widodo has also ordered the development of the nation’s digital economy as a priority.
The digital economy might be worth US$130 billion (RM541 billion) by 2020, said Rudiantara.
Some of the companies caught up in the crackdown have also previously fallen afoul of the government over tax compliance. Tax authorities have been in a long-running dispute with Google and have also set their sights on Apple Inc, Twitter, Yahoo! Inc and Facebook.
Rudiantara said on Thursday he planned to issue a ministerial decree by the end of the year that would toughen rules for foreign companies operating in the communications sector.
The measure, he said, would address three key issues, including ensuring companies pay tax, adhere to their legal obligations and provide customer service.