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Big Tech submits to Indonesian cyber policy
Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook are the latest to register with the government before a deadline that would see authorities start meting out sanctions, such as a blanket access ban.
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A customer works in front of the Google Cloud booth in Lotte Avenue shopping mall in South Jakarta on Nov. 20, 2019. Indonesia, like other countries, is eyeing taxes from big tech companies and seeking to regulate content to "improve" its digital ecosystem. (JP/Donny Fernando)
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eta Platforms Inc. has become the latest digital services giant to cave into pressure to follow Indonesian rules that effectively give the government sweeping censorship and digital taxation powers, as a deadline looms for electronic service providers (ESPs) to join before they get blocked.
The United States-based tech company registered its widely used Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp services with the government on Tuesday, according to the Communications and Information Ministry.
Other Big Tech firms like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Twitter Inc. have until Wednesday close to midnight before the state starts meting out sanctions for ESPs that have failed to submit business registrations in Indonesia, which could disrupt the daily life of millions of people reliant on their services.
Netflix Inc., Sweden’s Spotify Technology SA and ByteDance Ltd.-owned TikTok from China have already registered, according to a ministry tally updated in real-time on its website.
The ministry’s director general for informatics applications, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, told journalists on Tuesday that the government would be strict with both domestic and foreign private ESPs that refuse to sign up for the licensing system. These may include most social media sites, search engines, fintech firms and data processing services accessible in Indonesia.
“We have no other choice. They will be penalized if they refuse to register, with the severest penalty being blocking access [to their services],” he said at a press briefing in Jakarta.
The requirement to register is stipulated in Ministerial Regulation No. 5/2020 on private ESPs, which grants the ministry the right to block access to digital platforms if they fail to register by the deadline.
