Steam, Epic Games, Ubisoft and other gaming sites banned in Indonesia

Due to new rules of licensing, the government in Indonesia blocked foreign gaming services and websites including Steam, Epic Games and Ubisoft, among other platforms. Gaming fans in the region are raging at KOMINFO, the Indonesian ministry of communication, which signed the enforcement. 

According to the new rules, which were first announced in November 2020, the Indonesian authorities have power to force platforms to share determined user data and delete content that “disturbs public order” by demand within four hours. 

Last month, Indonesian government forced tech companies to follow new regulations and implement licensing until July 20, with some corporations such as Amazon, Facebook and Google meeting the deadline and staying on the market. 

Banned services and games

The denylist of companies that didn’t meet the requirements and were banned in the region included Steam, Epic Games, Battle Net, Ubisoft, Origin, Nintendo, Yahoo and PayPal. The Indonesian users of PayPal only have a five-day window to withdraw money from their accounts and later the service will be blocked completely. 

Indonesian users are justifiably angry, as many of them regularly use the above-mentioned services and such a ban will most likely damage creative and gaming spheres in the country. With such policies, Indonesia will experience a lack of foreign companies, but it also means that gamers in Indonesia already don’t have access to Dota 2, CS:GO and other competitive games as well as offline titles which were distributed via offline marketplaces like Steam and Origin.

Indonesian laws are called “invasive of human rights”

The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Federation (EFF) investigated the laws in Indonesia and released a report that found them “invasive of human rights” as the platforms need to follow the government’s requirements immediately without exceptions. EFF even sent a letter to the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information (KOMINFO) in order to revoke such “invasive content moderation rules.”

There are also updates about ban restrictions. Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, General Director at KOMINFO, stated that the country will unban companies as soon as they meet the aforementioned requirements and register in the Indonesian database, however, it’s unknown whether the companies like Valve, Origin and others will comply and return to the region. But with so many Internet users and gamers in the country, maybe corporations will reconsider the decision and follow the terms imposed by the government. 

While the companies decide on their future in the region, the Indonesian gaming community actively express themselves on social media. They even launched a hashtag “#BlokirKominfo” which means “Block KOMINFO”, to raise attention to the fact that the government doesn’t handle major problems, for example online slots, but instead dwells on major companies that harm mostly no one. 

Header credit: Steam