TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Communications and Information (Kominfo) Minister Johnny G. Plate asserted that his side has taken down or terminated access to online gambling games and websites since several years ago.

“Since 2018, half a million gambling accounts have been taken down, it’s more than half of a million. And we conduct cyber patrol to clean it every day,” said Johnny after a limited meeting with President Joko Widodo or Jokowi at Jakarta State Palace, Tuesday, August 2, 2022.

Previously, Kominfo Ministry received a lot of criticism as it allowed platforms suspected of having online gambling services to make a registration as a private electronic system provider (PSE).

The criticism emerged after the ministry blocked a number of unregistered sites or platforms on July 30, including Yahoo.com, Epic Games, Steam, Dita, Counter Strike, Origin, and Paypal as mandated in the ministerial regulation No. 5/2020.

As for a global payment platform Paypal, the ministry decided to temporarily unblock it for five days so that Indonesians could migrate.

On the other hand, people strongly criticized the operation of online gambling games and websites that passed the registration, such as Topfun, Domino Qiu Qiu, and others.

However, Johnny said that the ministry would clarify and further examine the sites and applications listed on the PSE. If found to be related to online gambling, Johnny ensured that the ministry will take it down.

On Monday, August 1, Johnny denied that the Kominfo Ministry missed the registration of online gambling websites and games registering as PSE. He ensured that the ministry consistently eradicated gambling practices, including those circulating in cyberspace.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO

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