Antara, Jakarta – The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) has blocked approximately 4.8 million negative content spread across the web and social media platforms from 2018 to February 15, 2024.

This announcement was made by I Nyoman Adhiarna, the Secretary of the Directorate General of Informatics Applications at Kominfo, during the Sportel Conference in Jimbaran, Bali.

Adhiarna provided a breakdown of the blocked content, revealing that 2.9 million instances were found on various websites, while social media platforms accounted for 1.9 million. He said content that violates social and moral norms, including pornography and gambling, which were blocked immediately.

Gambling content topped the list of blocked materials on websites, with nearly 1.7 million instances. Pornography followed closely, with 1.2 million contents being made inaccessible. Additionally, a significant number of contents related to fraud, intellectual property rights violations, terrorism, radicalism, breaches of information security, issues concerning ethnicity, race, religious beliefs, fake news, and violence, including against children, were also blocked.

Adhiarna pointed out that the most significant share of blocked social media content was on the X platform, formerly Twitter, with 1.3 million instances. Other platforms where content was blocked include Meta (Facebook), various file-sharing services, Google, Telegram, TikTok, Michat, Line, with the fewest blocks occurring on Yahoo.

The effort to cleanse the digital space of negative content involves enhanced cooperation with social media companies. Kominfo has focused on blocking and removing content and improving the capabilities of both the technology and personnel tasked with identifying and handling such content.

This includes crawling for Uniform Resource Locator (URL) links and accounts associated with negative content, especially in online gambling, and working with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to intensify the blocking of bank accounts related to these activities.

This proactive stance by Kominfo underscores the Indonesian government's commitment to creating a safer and more positive digital environment, tackling the proliferation of harmful content that affects social and cultural values. Through these measures, Kominfo aims to ensure that the digital space remains conducive to fostering healthy discussions and interactions among the Indonesian populace.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1836575/kominfo-blocks-over-4-8-million-negative-contents-in-six-year