Indonesia's Communications and Digital Affairs Ministry issued a formal, "stern warning" to Meta Platforms Inc on Thursday for failing to adequately stop the distribution of online gambling and disinformation on its platforms, the ministry announced.
The reprimand followed an unscheduled visit on Wednesday by Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid to Meta's operational office in Jakarta. According to the ministry, the purpose of the visit was to evaluate Meta's compliance with Indonesian regulations concerning harmful online material.
The ministry said Meta was found to have a low level of compliance with national rules designed to curb the spread of content involving disinformation, online gambling, defamation and hate speech across its services, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
In quantitative terms, the ministry reported that Meta had taken action on only 28.47% of the content it had flagged as related to online gambling and disinformation. The ministry used that figure to underpin its contention that the platform's efforts to remove illegal and harmful material have been insufficient.
Meutya Hafid was quoted by the ministry saying, "Disinformation, defamation, and hate content threaten lives in Indonesia, yet Meta has allowed them to persist." The ministry has urged Meta to bolster its content moderation systems and to speed up removal of material deemed illegal or harmful under Indonesian rules.
The ministry also noted that it had previously summoned representatives of Meta and other social media platforms last year and directed them to improve content moderation in response to the spread of disinformation. This latest warning represents a further escalation in the ministry's efforts to secure compliance from online platforms.
Meta did not immediately provide a response to a request for comment from the ministry, the statement said.
Summary of events:
- Minister Meutya Hafid made an unscheduled visit to Meta's Jakarta operational office.
- The communications ministry issued a formal "stern warning" to Meta for low compliance with Indonesian regulations.
- The ministry reported Meta acted on only 28.47% of flagged content tied to online gambling and disinformation.