Kominfo Successfully Blocked More Than 846 Thousand Online Gambling Sites Since 2018

Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi (photo: Dinda Buana/VOI)

JAKARTA - After the inauguration by President Joko Widodo, the new Minister of Communication and Information, Budi Arie Setiadi, said his focus was on fighting online gambling content that was still rife in Indonesia.

Furthermore, Budi said that since 2018 the Ministry of Communication and Informatics has succeeded in blocking access to 846,047 online gambling content that is scattered.

"In the past week of July 13-19 2023, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics has terminated access to 11,333 online gambling content," Budi said in a press conference Thursday, July 20 at the Kominfo office, Jakarta.

In addition, the Minister of Communication and Information Budi also mentioned online gambling fraud that infiltrated the banking website. Throughout January to July 17, 2023, Kominfo has received 1,859 complaints on the use of banking accounts for online gambling activities.

Regarding gambling content, Budi emphasized that Kominfo has the right to cut off access to sites with content containing gambling elements.

"Especially for gambling content, Kominfo can terminate directly if the content is contained in a site, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics will terminate access to sites containing gambling content," Budi explained further.

Meanwhile, gambling content on one platform, social media, for example, Kominfo will coordinate with the platform to block the content.

"Meanwhile, platforms that have content that contain elements of gambling, Kominfo asks the platform to remove content, otherwise they will be sanctioned (ITE Law)," he added.

The Minister of Communication and Information also appealed to the public to assist the government in fighting online gambling content, by reporting the content directly to Kominfo.

"We ask and urge the public to consistently support our joint work by reporting online gambling content found and making better and more productive use of the internet," he concluded.