Warns Google, Facebook, Until Tiktok Participates In Combating Online Gambling, Minister Of Communication And Information: Not Cooperative Fines Rp500 Million

Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi in a press conference, "Preparation of the 10th World Water Forum, From Indonesia to the World" in Badung, Bali, Sunday (19/5/2024). ANTARA/Putu Indah Savitri.

JAKARTA - Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Budi Arie Setiadi warned digital platform managers to participate in eradicating online gambling in Indonesia. Budi gave an ultimatum to Google, Meta (Facebook and WhatsApp), X, Telegram, and TikTok to cooperate by removing online gambling promotion content on their platforms. Otherwise, they will have to pay a fine in fantastic terms. "To all digital paltform managers, such as X, Telegram, Google, Meta, and TikTok. If you are not cooperative in eradicating online gambling on your platform, then I will impose a fine of up to IDR 500 million per content," Budi Arie said in a virtual press conference, Friday, May 24. In addition, Budi also warned all internet service provider (ISP) organizers that the government would not hesitate to revoke the license for its internet network organizers if they were not cooperative in eradicating online gambling. "I will not hesitate to revoke the internet service provider license used to facilitate online gambling games and we will announce the names of the ISPs," he said. On that occasion, Budi Arie said that Kominfo had blocked or taken down 1,918,520 content containing online gambling from July 17, 2023 to May 22, 2024. Then, Kominfo has also submitted the closure of 555 e-wallet accounts related to online gambling to Bank Indonesia during the period October to May 22, 2024. Then, blocking 5,364 bank accounts related to online gambling to OJK from 17 September 2023 to 22 May 2024. Kominfo has also taken down 18,877 gambling pages on educational sites, and 22,714 gambling pages on government websites from 2023 to 22 May 2024. Also, keyword updates related to online videos to facilitate content patrols, namely 20,241 keywoards to Google from 7 November 2023 to 22 May 2024, and 2,702 keywords to Meta from 15 December 2022 to 22 May 2024. "As an illustration, the top 10 online gambling keywords in the past week have been Liveslot, RTP Slot, NoLimit Slot, Sitelot, Slotgacor, Pragmatikslot, Casino Online, Togel, Bonus Slot, and CQ9," he explained.

On May 22, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ordered an integrated task force led by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Hadi Tjahjanto to break the online gambling ecosystem.