The Ministry of Communication and Information urges Telegram to immediately remove online gambling content

Jakarta (MidLand) – The Ministry of Communication and Information urges Telegram to immediately remove the circulation of online gambling content from the digital platform.

The director general of computer applications at the Ministry of Communications and Information, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said his party had sent a second letter to Telegram and asked them to respond immediately within a week.

“Yesterday we called Telegram. Then we sent a second letter for follow-up. There are up to 600 pending contents to be completed immediately. We will give you a week to respond,” Semuel said in Jakarta, Friday.

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Semuel said this matching process will be done three times. If after the third letter Telegram continues not to respond, the Ministry of Communications and Information will block the platform.

The distance between the second and third letters is one week. With this firm step, the Ministry of Communication and Information hopes to clean up online gambling advertising content from the Telegram platform and ensure that the platform complies with applicable regulations in Indonesia.

Communications and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi said the government will fine digital platforms that allow the distribution of gambling content online.

Read also: Platforms that allow the distribution of online gambling content will be fined

“If you do not cooperate in eradicating online gambling on your platform, I will impose a fine of up to 500 million rupees per content,” Budi said in a press conference held online on Friday.

The sanctions apply to all digital platforms, including X, Telegram, Google, Meta and TikTok.

Budi specified that, according to the monitoring of the Ministry of Communications and Information, a lot of content with keywords related to online gambling is still circulating on digital platforms.

Read also: Ministry of Communication and Information Stopped Access to 1.9 Million Online Gambling Contents from July 2023

He gave an example: From November 7, 2023 to May 22, 2024, 20,241 keywords related to online gambling were found on Google.

Additionally, 2,702 keywords related to online gambling were found on the Meta social network from December 15, 2022 to May 22, 2024.

“The top ten keywords related to online gambling in the last week are live slots, RTP slots, no limit, slot sites, gacor slots, pragmatic slots, online casino, lottery, bonus slots and CQ9,” he said Budi Arias.

Read also: Kemenkominfo-PANDI collaborate to overcome online gambling content on government websites

The Ministry of Communication and Information has stopped access to 1,918,520 contents containing online gambling games from July 17, 2023 to May 22, 2024.

Additionally, the ministry closed 18,877 online gambling page inserts on educational sites and 22,714 online gambling page inserts on government sites from last year to May 22, 2024.

Read also: The Ministry of Communication and Information assures that X has removed online gambling advertising content

Reporter: Fathur Rochman
Publisher: Siti Zulaikha
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