Indonesia is the latest country to crack down on social media: after the deadly riots yesterday, the Indonesian government imposed restrictions on the use of WhatsApp and Instagram.
Many Indonesian users reported today that it is difficult for them to send multimedia messages via WhatsApp and post content on Facebook. WhatsApp is one of the most popular chat apps in Indonesia. Indonesian Twitter users have sent messages with the “#instagramdown” tag due to the inability to access this photo app from Facebook.
According to Indonesian local website Coconuts, Wiranto, a senior Indonesian official in charge of political, legal and security affairs, confirmed at a press conference that the government is restricting users’ access to social media and that in order to avoid escalating violence, “Some features are disabled.”
Rudiantara, Indonesia’s communications minister and Facebook critic, explained, “If users upload videos and photos, they will feel a delay on WhatsApp.”
Facebook did not explicitly confirm that it was blocked, but said it has been communicating with the Indonesian government. WhatsApp and Instagram are both Facebook apps.
A Facebook spokesperson told the TechCrunch website, “We are aware of the current security situation in Jakarta and have responded to the actions of the Indonesian government. We are committed to maintaining all of our services so that those who rely on them can continue to work with their loved ones and loved ones. Contact for important information.”
Many Indonesian WhatsApp users have confirmed to TechCrunch that they are unable to send photos, videos and voice messages through the service. The above confirmed that these restrictions were removed once Wi-Fi or mobile data services were used via VPN.
After the Indonesian government announced the results of the presidential election on Tuesday, there was tension in the country’s political arena. It is in this context that the Indonesian government has restricted the use of social media. The defeated presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto, said he would challenge the election results in the Constitutional Court.
The Indonesian capital Jakarta rioted last night, killing at least six people and injuring more than 200. According to local media reports, after this, the nature of mass riots and misleading information and mischief of participants began to spread on social media services.
Protesters clashed with police in Jakarta and threw stones. Indonesian police said on the same day that they were investigating a report on the death of at least one demonstrator in the conflict in Jakarta.
For Facebook, it is no longer a rare matter to see your service being forcibly cut off in a certain area. In April of this year, Facebook encountered similar usage restrictions in Sri Lanka. At the time of the terrorist attacks in the country, Facebook was completely banned for several days. India has just ended its presidential election this week, expressing concern that Facebook cannot curb the spread of false information on WhatsApp. WhatsApp is the largest chat app in India with more than 200 million monthly active users. In fact, Facebook faces the problem of false information dissemination in many countries.
Rudy Antala also expressed similar concerns earlier this month.
According to the Jakarta Post, Rudi Antara said last week in a committee of the Indonesian House of Representatives that
“Facebook can tell you, ‘We comply with government regulations.’ I can also tell you how much content we ask Facebook to delete, And how much content Facebook has deleted. Facebook’s performance is the worst.”