Indonesia Tells Social Media Platform X to Remove Gambling Ads

The Indonesian government has told the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to take down gambling ads posted on the platform.

The Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology summoned representatives of X on Thursday to discuss the country’s measures against illegal gambling ads.

In a press conference, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, the Director General of Informatics Applications at the ministry, said the Indonesian government wanted to streamline the process of identifying and removing gambling content.

Pangerapan added that they asked the social media platform to create a system for automatic handling of such tasks.

The ministry also expressed concerns over the gambling ads on X despite previous warnings.

Indonesian netizens earlier expressed concerns over the proliferation of online gambling advertisements on X, involving public figures.

A recent survey by Populix found that 82% or 8 out of 10 Indonesian internet users have been exposed to online gambling content. The survey also found that out of that figure, 63% see online ads every time they surf the Internet.