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Instagram caves in to Indonesia's demand, shuts down account featuring gay Muslim comic strips

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Jakarta Post - February 13, 2019

Jakarta – Social media platform Instagram has taken down an Instagram account featuring comic strips about the life of a Muslim gay man that has stirred national controversy, an official says. By 2 p.m. on Wednesday, the account @alpantuni was no longer accessible.

The Communications and Information Ministry earlier requested that the account be shut down as it violates prevailing regulations regarding pornography.

Minister Rudiantara even threatened to block the social media site if the request was not fulfilled.

"The result of the verification process shows that the content of Alpatuni's Instagram account violates Article 27 paragraph 1 of the 2008 law on Electric Information and Transactions on the distribution of pornographic content," ministry spokesman Ferdinandus Setu said as quoted by Antara on Wednesday.

The request was made following a torrent of complaints from Indonesian netizens who found the comic strips offensive.

The comic tells the story of a practicing Muslim man named Alpantuni, who, despite growing up in a religious family, is gay.

It is not clear who managed the Instagram account, which was set up in November last year. It features comic strips in English and Indonesian and uses the hashtags #gayindonesia, #gaymalaysia, #komikmalaysia and #gaymuslims.

The ministry, Ferdinandus said, appreciated the public for reporting the controversial Instagram account and Instagram for "speeding up the process of taking the account down."

The ministry is calling on netizens to report any "negative" social media accounts to @aduankonten on Twitter, the website aduankonten.id or their contact numbers. (mai)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/02/13/instagram-grants-indonesias-request-shuts-down-account-featuring-gay-muslim-comic.html

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