Heaptalk, Jakarta — Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo), in collaboration with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and supported by PPATK, has taken decisive action against online gambling. As a result, around 3.8 million online gambling apps have been blocked.
“Online gambling has become a serious threat in Indonesia, with transaction values reaching nearly Rp400 trillion and the number of players surging to three million. The Indonesian government continues its battle against online gambling,” said Teguh Arifiyadi, Director of Informatics Application Control at Kominfo, during his speech at the Forum Merdeka Barat 9 (FMB9). (08/26)
Teguh Arifiyadi emphasized that there will be zero tolerance for service providers involved in online gambling activities. Over the past seven years, Kominfo has blocked 3.8 million online gambling apps, two million of which were blocked just last year.
“We will immediately cut off access without warning if there are indications of electronic systems being used for online gambling that are not registered as Electronic System Providers (PSE),” Teguh stated.
The ministry employs three main strategies to prevent the spread of online gambling: an artificial intelligence (AI)–based web crawler, manual patrols to detect anomalies missed by automated systems, and actions taken based on public complaints.
However, Teguh acknowledged that the challenge of combating online gambling is becoming more complex, especially as online gambling operators continue to innovate with new methods each time their sites are blocked. “We’ve taken down access to numerous sites and apps, but the Ministry of Communication and Informatics cannot work alone. Support is needed from upstream to downstream,” Teguh concluded.
