Indonesia bans access to Steam, Epic Games, PayPal.
The Indonesian government has blocked access to a range of internet services, including Steam, Epic Games, PayPal and Yahoo after the companies in question failed to meet new requirements linked to the country’s restrictive laws on their content within the platforms.
In line with these rules, companies deemed “Private Electronic Service Providers” must register in the government’s database in order to operate within the country, or face a nationwide ban.
Indonesia had given companies until July 27 to comply with their demands, and has now banned those companies that have not done so.
This requirement is part of a comprehensive law called MR5, which was first made public in 2020.
As reported, the law allows the Indonesian government to obtain data on certain specific users, as well as to force companies to remove content that “disrupts public order” and is considered illegal.
Platforms have 4 hours to take action on “urgent” removal requests, and another 24 hours for other content.
A 2021 report by the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) calls the Indonesian laws “human rights violations” as the law puts the platforms at the mercy of the Indonesian government, which will ban them if they they do not obey the laws of the land.
Earlier in the month, the EFF wrote a letter to the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Information asking the government to repeal its “offensive content moderation rules”.