The Indonesian government blocks PayPal, Steam, Epic Games and other services

L’Indonesia has banned access to some services much used as Steam e PayPal as companies have not complied with new country requirements by the set date.

Indonesia blocks PayPal, Steam and many other services

The Indonesian government has blocked access to a number of online services, including Steam, Epic Games, PayPal e Yahooafter the companies failed to comply with a new requirement regarding the country’s restrictive content moderation laws, as previously reported by Reuters.

In line with the rules, companies deemed “private electronic system providers” must register with the government database to operate in the countryotherwise they face a nationwide ban. Indonesia has conceded to companies until July 27 to comply and has since banned those who missed the deadline.

The requirement is part of a general law, called MR5first introduced in 2020. As reported by The Verge, the laws give the Indonesian government the ability to obtain data on specific users; as well as forcing companies to remove content that “disrupts public order” or is considered illegal. The platforms have four hours to take action on “urgent” removal requests or 24 hours in the case of any other content.

A 2021 report from the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) defines Indonesian laws “Invasive of human rights”, as it puts the platforms at the mercy of the Indonesian government, which will ban them except in accordance with local laws. In early July, the EFF wrote a letter to the Indonesian government urging it to repeal its “invasive content moderation rules”.

Many users have their finances locked up

The concrete result of these bans was the impossibility, for Indonesian users, of process payments with PayPal, log into Yahoo and have fun playing through Steam or Epic Games. Among other popular games or services affected by the ban we also find Origin, DOTA 2 e Counter-Strike. Meanwhile, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, TikTok, Twitter, Netflix and Spotify registered a license last week and all remain available.

In any case for five days starting July 31stas Reuters reports, it will be possible log into PayPal, to manage their finances and probably move the money to another account. Also, reportedly, Valve is in the process of registering with the Indonesian databasethus unlocking Steam, DOTA 2 and Counter-Strike.