Indonesia bans access to Steam, Epic Games, PayPal, and more

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The Indonesian government has blocked access to a number of online services after the companies failed to comply with a new requirement related to the country's restrictive content moderation laws.

If a company is deemed a private electronic system provider, they have to register with the government or face a nationwide ban. Indonesia banned companies that haven't complied after giving them a deadline to do so.

MR5 was introduced in 2020 and includes the requirement. The Indonesian government is given the ability to obtain data about specific users, as well as companies being forced to remove content that is considered illegal, according to a report. In the case of any other content, platforms have four hours to take action.

The Indonesian government will ban platforms if they are not in compliance with local laws, according to a report from the EFF. The EFF wrote a letter to the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information, urging them to repeal their "invasive content moderation rules"

Quick update for those asking-



The blocks are not permanent, assuming the companies register and comply with the regulation, and Kominfo has already reached out to these companies to ensure compliance and reverse the block.



Here is a list of affected services: pic.twitter.com/6K121xVEMP

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) July 30, 2022

Users in Indonesia can't process payments or play certain games because of the ban. Counter-Strike, DOTA 2, and Origin are some of the popular games that have been affected by the ban. All but Apple registered for a license last week.

Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, general director of Kominfo, said that the country may allow users to use PayPal during the ban. Once the companies register with the country, the ban will be lifted. It is not known when these services will be back online or if they will register with the Indonesian database. The three companies didn't respond to the request for comment.