INDONESIA TO BAN FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, AND WHATSAPP IF THEY FAIL TO REGISTER FOR LICENSES

Tue 19 July 2022:

If they don’t register with the country’s Ministry of Communications and Informatics, the Indonesian government will soon block social media apps and websites like Google, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

The tech behemoths have until Wednesday to finish the licensing registration process. If not, the ministry will declare them to be illegal and unlawful in the nation, according to the Xinhua news agency.

“We have warned all local and foreign tech companies, including online services, sites, and application providers, many times that they have to register if they do not want to risk being blocked. We have given them time since six months ago,” the ministry’s Director General for Information Applications Semuel Abrijani told reporters on Tuesday.

The registration is part of the country’s new regulation starting from January 2022, saying all tech platforms must secure licenses to be able to operate. The regulation will allow the authorities to order the platforms to take down any contents considered unlawful, inappropriate and “disturb public order,” within four hours if deemed urgent, and 24 hours if not.

Currently, Indonesia’s government is working to stop the spread of false information and hoaxes, especially in the run-up to the country’s general election in 2024.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent