JAKARTA: Due to their inability to abide by licencing regulations, Indonesia has barred the search engine Yahoo, the payments company PayPal, and a number of gaming websites, an official announced on Saturday, setting off a social media outcry.
Regulations that went into effect in late November 2020 mandated registration and gave authorities extensive authority to request platforms to hand over user data and remove information deemed illegal or that “disturbs public order” within four hours if necessary and 24 hours if not.
The deadline, which had been postponed until Friday, prompted a rush of registrations from several tech firms, including Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, as well as Amazon.com Inc.
Yahoo, PayPal, and gaming portals like Steam, Dota2, Counter-Strike, and EpicGames, among others, have been blocked, according to Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, a senior official at Indonesia’s Communications Ministry.
