Riri Rahayu, Antara, Jakarta – Indonesia's Communication and Informatics Minister Budie Arie Setiadi commented on the government's plan to censor the contents of over-the-top (OTT) platforms, for example, such as Netflix, Disney+, Hulu etc. The minister said that the plan emerged due to the belief that OTT platforms do not act similarly to other agencies that provide movie viewing.
"They [OTT platforms] argued that they are not broadcasting platforms even though they produce audio-visual contents," said Budi Arie when met in the ministry office on Monday, August 21, 2023."We will take action against them."
Budi Arie explained that the censorship is necessary to protect digital cultures and digital ethics in Indonesia. Both aspects are currently the top priority of the ministry along with digital skills and digital security.
However, the minister admitted that the plan has not been communicated to the targeted platforms. "This is still in the discussion phase," he said.
Previously, the plan was revealed by the Director General of Public Information and Communication of the ministry, Usman Kansong. He mentioned that the censorship is intended to prevent Indonesians from being exposed to non-ethical media.
According to Usman when met in Tarakan, North Kalimantan on Sunday, August 20, 2023, the censorship is to ensure fairness for the public. He said that the ministry will gather stakeholders soon to discuss the issue, including the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Film Censorship Board, and OTT actors and their partners.
"[The censorship] has to be discussed until there are no more questions such as why are they censoring movies in Indonesia while there are no censorship on OTT platforms? It is not fair," said Usman. "I think [no censorship] is the reason why people prefer to watch [movies] from OTT platforms rather than TVs. In the end, more people are being exposed to things that violated ethics."
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1762702/indonesia-aims-to-censor-over-the-top-platform-content