Newswires, including TEMPO, CNN and Bisnis.Com are reporting on a breaking story indicating that Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, YouTube and Twitter may be blocked in Indonesia as of July 21 because they have failed to register as electronic system operators, something the Ministry of Communication and Information’s regulations demand.
According to CNN, the Minister of Communication said that all private online providers must be registered by July 20, adding that the registration can be done through a single online submission.
Any sites or online providers that fail to register face the threat of being banned, CNN reported, adding that several big names like Google, YouTube, and Twitter have not yet been registered.
One explanation for the delay in complying was proposed by Tempo, who are reporting that Ethical Hacker Indonesia founder Teguh Aprianto believes the primary reason is the fear of violating their own company privacy policies and the threat of possibly breaching users’ privacy through – at least – three problematic regulations from Kominfo Regulation No. 5/2020 overseeing PSE and private spaces.
“If the platform registers themselves then they can be violating their own privacy policy and our privacy as users,” Teguh wrote on Sunday, Bisnis.com reported.
Those platforms that have registered however, include TikTok, Linktree, and Spotify. As of today, 5,743-companies are registered as private sector PSE with 86-of them foreign companies.
Sources: Tempo, CNN, Morocco World News, Bisnis.Com