Indonesia has begun banning companies that do not comply with content moderation laws and licensing rules. It was stated that among these companies are popular services such as Yahoo, PayPal, Steam and Epic Games. What will companies that do not comply with Indonesia’s rules do now?
Controversial Steam and PayPal ban from Indonesia
With the new law enacted in Indonesia, there are some obligations that companies that want to operate in the country must fulfill. By law, companies must register with the country’s database and remove content that “disrupts public order.” Indonesia also wants to access user data.
It was stated that giant companies such as Google, Meta and Amazon complied with these rules to operate in the country and obtained a license by registering in the database. However, dozens of companies, including Yahoo, PayPal and Steam, do not seem to comply with the law.
Speaking to Reuters on the subject, Indonesian Ministry of Communications official Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan said that the door is open to all banned companies. He stated that companies that do not comply with the rules can operate by obtaining a license.
Popular games such as Dota2 and Counter-Strike cannot be played because access to Valve (Steam, naturally) is prohibited in the country. Fortnite servers were also disabled due to Epic Games being banned. Similarly, access to payments giant PayPal was shut down, leaving thousands of freelancers in the middle.
It is unclear whether giants such as PayPal, Epic Games and Valve will continue their activities in Indonesia. However, thousands of users have already started to show their reactions on Twitter. It should be noted that the companies have contacted the Indonesian government.
So what do you think about the Steam PayPal ban? You can share your views with us in the comments section.