BPOM Tightens Digital Surveillance, Circulation of Illegal Drugs Becomes the Spotlight

Head of BPOM Taruna Ikrar receives an award from the Indonesian Pharmaceutical Association. ANTARA/HO-BPOM

JAKARTA - The Food and Drug Supervisory Agency continues to strengthen supervision in the digital space to suppress the circulation of illegal drugs and foods that are now widely marketed through online platforms. This step is carried out in line with the increasing activity of buying and selling unlicensed products on the internet.

The head of BPOM, Taruna Ikrar, said that supervision through cyber patrols would continue to be carried out and adjusted to the development of the situation.

"Cyber patrols will continue depending on the developing conditions," he said in a hearing with Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta.

Cyber patrol itself is an active surveillance effort that includes monitoring and taking action against content that offers illegal products in the digital world. This strategy is one of the main focuses of BPOM in responding to the proliferation of the distribution of products that do not meet the provisions.

Throughout 2025, BPOM recorded that it had removed more than 197 thousand content related to illegal products from various digital platforms. The enforcement process was carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Communication and Digital as the party that followed up on the deletion of content.

Entering 2026, up to the first quarter, the number of content that has been successfully downloaded has reached more than 61 thousand. This figure is said to have exceeded a quarter of the achievement throughout the previous year.

According to Taruna, supervision in the digital space is now very important because perpetrators of illegal product circulation are increasingly utilizing online channels that are difficult to reach with conventional methods. Therefore, BPOM continues to strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration to accelerate handling and increase community protection.

In addition, the use of technology is also optimized to help the process of detecting and preventing the circulation of illegal products more effectively.

Through these various steps, BPOM hopes that the circulation of illegal drugs and food can be suppressed, as well as encourage business actors and the public to be more obedient to the applicable regulations, especially regarding aspects of product safety, efficacy, and quality.