Amended Law Allows Gov’t to Freeze Bank Accounts in Online Gambling Crackdown
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Jakarta. The revision of the electronic transaction and information law gives authorities the power to freeze the bank accounts of suspects during the crackdown on online gambling, a minister said on Wednesday.
Both the government and the House of Representatives have agreed to include such an authority in the revised law.
“The existing law has no regulation about this issue but the proposed bill allows authorities to immediately freeze bank accounts,” Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi said in Jakarta.
The provision is included in Article 40 of the law that regulates the authority to take down gambling and pornography websites and content moderation.
The minister said earlier that nearly 393,000 gambling websites have been frozen or removed between July and October.
Indonesia strictly bans gambling and any violation could risk a harsh sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
It is the second revision of the law which was first adopted in 2008 to combat the dissemination of false information, pornographic content, and gambling using electronic devices.
Many people have been jailed under the draconian law for defamation, spreading fake news, or distributing pornographic content.
The amended law will be enacted during the nearest House plenary session.
