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Indonesia preparing tough new curbs for online platforms
The rules, which authorities believe are needed to make platforms remove "unlawful" content quickly, are among the most stringent globally on social media and follow intensifying crackdowns on online content that have alarmed activists in countries like India.
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Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram logos are displayed through broken glass in this illustration taken October 4, 2021. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
I
ndonesia is readying tough new rules that will allow it to fine and criminally charge internet and social media platforms, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, potentially slowing online firms' rapid growth in a $70 billion market.
The rules, which authorities believe are needed to make platforms remove "unlawful" content quickly, are among the most stringent globally on social media and follow intensifying crackdowns on online content that have alarmed activists in countries like India.
Indonesia is a top-10 market globally by number of users for social media companies, including Alphabet Inc's Youtube, TikTok, Twitter and Meta's Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
Some executives of online companies briefed on the plans warned the measures will be hard to comply with, raise their operating costs, and could undermine freedom of expression in the world's fourth most populous country, the sources said.
The new rules, which build upon internet regulations from 2019, mean companies will be required to take down content deemed unlawful within four hours if a request is designated as "urgent", the sources said. Other requests, which can come from any government agency, will be have to be met within 24 hours.
The measures, which are being drafted by Indonesia's finance and communications ministries, are due to be finalised soon and brought in from June, the sources told Reuters.
The six sources from companies and government declined to be named as the discussions were confidential.
