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Govt faces public outrage over blocking of Paypal, popular gaming websites
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A total of eight ESPs operating in Indonesia, including Paypal, Yahoo and online game platforms such as Steam, Dota, Counter-Strike, Epic Games and Origin.com, as well as data platform Xandr.com, were all blocked on Saturday for failing to meet last week’s deadline of the licensing policy. (Shutterstock/File)
O
utcry over the Communications and Information Ministry’s decision to block access to eight popular electronic services providers (ESPs) and its controversial licensing policy continues, particularly on social media, even after it temporarily opened access to payment gateway platform PayPal on Sunday.
A total of eight ESPs, including Paypal, Yahoo and online game platforms such as Steam, Dota, Counter-Strike, Epic Games and Origin.com, as well as data platform Xandr.com, were all blocked on Saturday for failing to meet last week’s deadline of the licensing policy.
The requirement to register is stipulated in a controversial 2020 ministerial regulation on private ESPs, which also grants the ministry the right to block access to digital platforms if they failed to register by the July 20 deadline.
The government’s ESP regulation has been hugely unpopular, spawning an online movement under the hashtag of #BlokirKominfo (block the Communications and Information Ministry) that criticized the licensing policy as hurting freelance workers who use PayPal and Indonesia's online gaming industry.
The hashtag, which has been used on 70,000 tweets protesting the policy as of Sunday, has set off a trend among social media users of sharing internet memes and ridicule, mostly targeted at Communications and Information Minister Johnny G Plate of the pro-government NasDem Party.
Read also: Govt blocks Yahoo, Steam, PayPal for failing to comply with licensing policy
Freelance artist Irsyad Iranto, 23, is among many Indonesians who have reservations against the ministry’s decision to block Paypal.
