Tech firms run risk of being banned in Indonesia for failure to agree to new content rules

Several tech firms such as Google, Twitter and Meta are at risk of being blocked in Indonesia, should they fail to register under the country's new licensing rules by 20 July.

According to The Jakarta Post, the requirement to register comes as part of a set of rules that were first released by the Ministry of Communication and Information in November 2020. The set of rules would allow authorities to order platforms to take down content that is deemed unlawful or a disturbance to public order within four hours if considered urgent, and 24 hours otherwise. This new licensing system applies to all electronic service operators.

As of 18 July, over 5,900 domestic companies and 108 foreign companies have registered, including TikTok and Spotify, Reuters reported.

Additionally, companies may be required to disclose communications and personal data of specific users if requested by law enforcement or government agencies. According to Reuters, the new rules were formulated to ensure Internet service providers protect consumer data, and online content is used in a positive and productive way.

Separately, Indonesian authorities are mulling a draft bill that could compel tech companies, such as Facebook and Google, to negotiate with media outlets for fairer revenues. According to Reuters, the aim of the bill is to ensure fairer revenues for outlets that produce core news and good journalism - under the current ecosystem, clickbait stand to earn more revenue. Indonesia’s cyber media association was involved in drafting the bill as well. The draft, which has yet to go to parliament calls for an agency to negotiate between media firms and tech companies, and also ensuring that tech firms do more to filter content for hoaxes, Reuters reported.

However, according to a quote Reuters by Ross Tapsell, a media lecturer at the Australian National University, the bill would be more advantageous to bigger industry players while smaller, independent media companies - whose mission is public interest journalism - may not benefit from the bill if it gets passed. Algorithms run by these tech giants can have a significant impact on revenue for digital media outlets and they determine how prominently a story appears in a Google search or on a Facebook news feed. Currently, about half of Indonesia’s digital advertising revenues go to Facebook and Google, according to Wavemaker Indonesia MD's statement on Reuters.

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