INDONESIAN authorities are set to block social media applications and online sites including Google, Facebook, and WhatsApp in several days if they fail to register with the country’s Communications and Informatics Ministry, reported Xinhua.

The digital giants have been given until tomorrow to complete the registration for licensing. Otherwise, the ministry will label them illegal and unlawful in the country. 

“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 today.

The registration is part of the country’s new regulation effective January 2022, which deems that all tech platforms must secure licences to operate. The regulation will allow the authorities to order the platforms to take down any content considered unlawful, inappropriate and posing a disturbance to public order within four hours if deemed urgent and 24 hours otherwise.

The Indonesian government is currently trying to reduce the spread of misinformation and hoaxes, particularly ahead of the country’s general election in 2024. – Bernama, July 19, 2022.