Indonesia Bans Tumblr for Publishing Pornographic Content
Indonesia has banned microblogging platform Tumblr for distributing pornographic content.
Azhar Hasyim, e-business director at Indonesia's Information Ministry, said that the ban was made without consultation with the company, which was founded by David Karp and is owned by Yahoo. Tumblr allows posts containing adult content, unlike Facebook and other social media platforms.
Earlier this month, the country also told social networking sites to remove emojis that represent the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Some of these emojis show the rainbow flag and same-sex couples holding hands, which symbolizes LGBTs.
The nation's government has threatened to block messaging apps that continue to distribute gay emojis in the country. LINE has complied with Indonesia's demand and issued an apology.
"LINE regrets the incidents of some stickers which are considered sensitive by many people ... We ask for your understanding because at the moment we are working on this issue to remove the stickers," the messaging app said in a statement.
Indonesian officials are worried that the colorful emojis and digital stickers could attract children.
"Such contents are not allowed in Indonesia based on our cultural law and the religious norms and the operators must respect that," said Ismail Cawidu, spokesman for the Communication and Information Ministry. "Those things might be considered normal in some Western countries, while in Indonesia it's practically impossible."
The latest ban was part of Indonesia's plan for an extensive crackdown. Almost 500 sites have been taken down by officials, according to Indonesian media. This includes video-hosting site Vimeo, which was blocked in the country last May for its alleged pornographic content.
Netflix was also blocked this month by Indonesia's largest Internet service provider, which said it had issues about the content offered on the site. Telekom Indonesia said that the streaming service displays "violence and adult content," accusing it of failing to obtain a required business permit.
Prior to these crackdowns, the Muslim-majority country told social media firms like Twitter to carry out a special filter for pornographic content. Companies that refuse to abide by the Indonesian law will reportedly be charged.
A 2015 report stated that Indonesia only offers a "partly free" Internet service. Bloggers have been arrested in the past, and some content on social media platforms was blocked.
Homosexuality is not illegal in the country, but the topic remains controversial. In January 2016, the University of Indonesia prohibited a support group providing sex education and counseling for LGBT students from holding meetings on campus. In addition, the province of Aceh in 2015 implemented caning as a punishment for gay sex.
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