Jakarta, IO – Communications and Information Ministry (Kominfo) said it has taken down 846,047 online gambling content in Indonesia from 2018 to 19 July.
Newly-appointed Kominfo Minister Budi Arie Setiadi said that in the past week alone 11,333 online gambling content has been blocked. He also said that from the beginning of the year to July 17 Kominfo has received 1,914 complaints related to online gambling content on the internet, per Kompas, Thursday (20/7).
Budi appealed to the public to continue assisting the government in combating online gambling content by proactively reporting this kind of content. He also advised against falling victim to online gambling because it is an illegal activity in Indonesia.
“We ask and urge people to make better use of the internet and use it for productive things,” said Budi.
Meanwhile, Informatics Applications director general Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan said gambling sites in Indonesia are mostly run from overseas.
“We found out that they are operated from countries where gambling is legal. As soon as they enters Indonesia, we block them,” said Semuel.
He said Kominfo has blocked website domains containing online gambling. The IP addresses of online gambling sites and applications are also blocked so that they cannot be accessed in Indonesia.
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“Accounts used by online gambling sites are also blocked. This aims to restrict their space to carry out these illegal activities,” added Semuel.
Apart from blocking, Kominfo also reported online gambling content on social media to law enforcement agency. That way, those who promote online gambling content on social media can be potentially arrested. (rr)