Weeks after pushing through new technology reforms and urging the global tech companies to register under new licensing rules, the Indonesian government has announced to block the access to eight major online platforms, including Yahoo, PayPal and Dota, as they have failed to register for licensing.
The government authorities last month warned the top tech players operating in the country to comply with the new norms and failing to register may risk blocking.
As per the government data shared, all major global tech firms including Google and Meta have already complied to the new rules. The requirement to register is part of a set of rules, first released in November 2020, that will allow authorities to order platforms to take down content deemed unlawful, or that ‘disturbs public order’ within four hours if considered urgent, and 24 hours if not.
According to Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, Director General of Informatics Application at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, five other tech companies blocked by the authorities include Steam, Counter-Strike, Epic Games, Origin.com and Xandr.com.
Pangerapan added that a licensing registration was required for all of the electronic service providers (ESPs) under a policy issued in 2020. Earlier the Indonesian communications minister Johnny G Plate urged companies to register before sanctions were applied. “Platforms could be blocked if they did not comply,” the ministry said.
Earlier late last month over 200 foreign ESPs in the Southeast Asian country, including Google, Zoom, Netflix and Facebook, had rushed to register in days leading to the deadline on Friday. Nearly 8,000 domestic private ESPs also had registered with the Ministry before the deadline.
