Govt continues crackdown on online gambling content

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi has said that his ministry will continue to crack down on gambling-related content on the Internet.In a press statement issued here on Thursday, Setiadi informed that between 2018 and July 19, 2023, the ministry has taken down 846,047 online gambling content."From July 13–19, 2023, the ministry has cut off access to 11,333 online gambling content," he added.Access to the content was blocked following cyber patrols conducted by the ministry and based on complaints received from the general public, agencies, ministries, or institutions.

Through its cekrekening.id platform, the ministry also received complaints of banking account abuse linked to gambling.

"From January to July 17, 2023, the ministry has received complaints about the use of banking accounts for online gambling activities, which is 1,859 complaints out of the total 1,914 complaints in 2023," he explained.According to him, access to such content was blocked in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations.The ministry can request content removal if gambling content is found on social media platforms."If the platform refuses to delete, it will be subject to sanctions according to laws and regulations," he informed.Meanwhile, the ministry's director general of applications and informatics, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said that his side has handled around 5 thousand government sites on which gambling content popped up.To prevent online gambling content from showing up on government sites, Pangerapan said the ministry is collaborating with the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN) and the Indonesian Internet Domain Name Registry (PANDI)."There are some provisions, so before government websites are uploaded or published, they must first pass the BSSN test," he explained.Earlier, Pangerapan said that some reasons for gambling content showing up on Indonesian government websites are the lack of understanding of cybersecurity and inactive domains.