As we draft this article on Google Docs, it’s evident that Alphabet Inc.’s services have not been blocked in Indonesia despite the tech giant looking like it missed yesterday’s deadline to register itself with the Information and Communications Ministry.
The ministry previously said all internet services operating in Indonesia — whether domestic or international — must register as an Electronic Systems Provider (PSE), for the purposes of cyber security and user protection, by July 20. Failure to comply would result in an operational ban effective from July 21.
While the likes of Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, as well as Netflix, Snapchat, and TikTok have officially registered as recorded on the ministry’s website, Google’s compliance is much less clear.
For one, the database shows that the search engine has been registered under the names of obscure small business entities for months, and it’s currently not clear if these are directly affiliated with Google. The only legitimate entry by Google in the database relates to its cloud computing service, which is registered under PT Google Cloud Indonesia.
At any rate, it may take some time before the ministry goes ahead with its threat to ban non-compliant tech services. Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, director general of informatics applications at the ministry, on Tuesday clarified that the institution will send written warnings and fine unregistered PSEs before taking the ultimate measure of banning them in the country.
Internet giants faced no consequence after missing several of the ministry’s PSE registration deadlines ever since the regulation was introduced in 2020. Those that have registered now may have to increasingly bow to tax levies from the government.
SAFEnet, an NGO that works to protect freedom of speech in Southeast Asia, has been busy in the past few days campaigning against the PSE registration requirement, which they say would greatly hamper freedom of speech. The organization argued that the measure would grant the government even greater powers to unilaterally shut down content it deems undesirable.
And that should be a concern given the Information and Communications Ministry’s track record in censorship. The ministry has been known to ban apps and platforms on legal and/or moral grounds in recent years. These include gay dating app Blued, which was banned for its “immoral” LGBT content, TikTok for its general “negative content,” and Telegram for allegedly facilitating the spread of radical content, though the bans for the latter two have since been lifted.
