Indonesia removes 1.9m pieces of ‘online gambling content’

Much of the content was on Meta’s social media platforms.

Indonesia.- Budie Arie Setiadi, Indonesia’s communication and informatics minister, has announced that between July 17, 2023 and May 21, 2024, his ministry has removed 1.9m pieces of online gambling content. Warnings issued to Meta led the company to remove 1.65m pieces of online gambling content and 450,000 advertisements between August and October. 

The ministry has also asked the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and Bank Indonesia (BI) to block bank accounts and digital wallets linked to online gambling. The OJK has proposed blocking 5,364 bank accounts, and BI has proposed blocking 555 digital wallets. 

In April, president Joko Widodo ordered the creation of a task force to tackle online gambling. It will focus on removing online gambling sites. According to Jakarta Globe, the task force, to be led by the coordinating minister for political, legal, and security affairs, Hadi Tjahjanto, will be established within one to two weeks. Budi Arie Setiadi will lead the prevention division and national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo will lead the enforcement division.