Meta Indonesia Urged to Expedite Removal of Online Gambling Content

TEMPO.CO, Badung, Bali - The Ministry of Communication and Informatics urged the management of Meta in Indonesia to accelerate the elimination of online gambling content after the government gave a strong warning to the company.

Meta owns and operates Facebook, among others.

"We ask for a report on how many (items have been removed) and (to complete it) as soon as possible. We will not give more time," the ministry's Director General of Public Information and Communication, Usman Kansong, stated on Friday.

Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi had earlier sent a letter to Meta representatives in Indonesia on October 2, containing the order for handling online gambling and slot gambling content and activities.

The minister ordered the company to eliminate online gambling content from its digital platforms within 24 hours.

Regarding the order, Kansong stated that the management has sought time, as a process is required for the elimination efforts.

"We gave an adjustment, but we ask for it (to be completed) as soon as possible, and Meta must report to us how much content has been taken down," he stated.

He noted that the company had taken measures to eliminate online gambling content, but the content was still found.

He further emphasized that if the management does nothing about online gambling content that involves advertisements or promotions, it would violate the Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law.

"To this end, the communication and informatics minister can report to the police if (they) do nothing," he stated.

According to Kansong, online gambling content is the most removed content, and from 2018 until now, around 1.2 million items of online gambling content had been taken down.

Earlier, Minister Setiadi stated that in three months of his tenure, which started on July 17, 2023, almost 400,000 items of online gambling content have been blocked from the digital space in Indonesia.