Indonesia May Require Major Digital Platforms To Open Local Offices
JAKARTA, Sept 15 (NNN) -- Indonesia may revise its regulations to compel major digital platforms to establish representative offices in the country to strengthen oversight under its child online protection regulation.
Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid said such a move may be necessary if major platforms do not respond to the government’s call to establish offices in Indonesia to facilitate communication.
“We have conveyed that we expect, particularly large platforms, to have offices in Indonesia to facilitate communication.
“However, if they do not, we may have to revise and add regulations to ensure that platforms, particularly the large ones, with the scale still being studied, are required to establish representative offices in Indonesia,” she told a press conference here on Monday during the government’s six-month evaluation of the child online protection regulation, known as PP Tunas.
Referring to social media platform X, which has yet to establish such mechanisms, she said this has made it difficult to coordinate, monitor and evaluate its child protection obligations.
She said X had reported locking 250,000 accounts belonging to users under 16, compared with an estimated seven million child accounts on the platform, leading the government to assess that its efforts had yet to reflect the spirit of child protection in Indonesia.
The ministry’s assessment covered eight platforms initially classified as high-risk services: YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox. About 28 million Indonesian child accounts received protection from various digital risks over the six months.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s Director-General of Digital Space Supervision Alexander Sabar said existing regulations do not specifically require digital platforms to maintain offices in Indonesia.
He said the ministry is studying implementing regulations under the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law concerning the establishment of representative offices in the country.
--NNN
