The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Komdigi) of Indonesia recently announced that between 20 October 2024 and 16 September 2025, a nationwide cyber-space clean-up operation was carried out, removing 2.8 million harmful items associated with illegal gambling. This is intended to cleanse the digital space and address the threat posed by illegal gambling content.
According to Alexander Sabal, Director-General of the Komdigi Digital Space Control, more than 2.1 million of these items are directly related to online gaming platforms, which are prohibited by Indonesian law. He stressed that the central objective of the Government ‘ s action was to protect the public from digital content, rather than to restrict freedom of expression.
According to detailed data disclosed by the Antara News Agency, the clean-up operation covered the multi-point platform: The website removes 1.93 million content, the documents-sharing platform cleans 97779, and the Meta Facebook and Instagram removes 9404. platforms such as Google, X, Telegram, TikTok, Line and Applied Shops are also within the scope of this renovation. According to Sabal, these data represent a continuing challenge despite the long-standing ban on gambling in Indonesia.
The Government of Indonesia is currently implementing a one-year project on the Content Audit Compliance System to ensure that all digital platforms operating in the country comply with national regulations and community guidelines. The system is designed to assist local law enforcement and enhance platform accountability, and the pilot period will end next month.
“We are ensuring that the digital platform adheres to community norms and regulations, with the primary objective of maintaining a clean, safe, healthy and constructive digital space”, Zabal stated at a press conference in Jakarta. At the same time, he called on the public to actively report harmful content through official channels, in particular Internet games.
Although the Government ‘ s action had been praised for its public interest, critics had expressed concern about the growing influence of the lottery industry in Indonesia. The Populix survey shows that 82% of Internet users have been exposed to online lottery content. More alarmingly, academic studies have shown that nearly 43 per cent of university students have tried to gamble online, and more than one quarter are still participating.
Indonesia has strict regulatory measures for offline gambling, but the industry has been growing rapidly in recent years. According to FTRAC data, in the first quarter of 2025 some 1.07 million Indonesians participated in the online lottery. Reuters had earlier estimated that the number of gamblers in 2023 was about 3 million, with a total investment of nearly $20 billion.
The Government ‘ s corrective action is one of the broader efforts to protect citizens from gambling addiction and financial damage. The Indonesian authorities have made it clear that the clean-up operation does not restrict freedom of expression, but rather ensures that the digital space is free from illegal and harmful content, while preventing gambling from normalizing among young groups vulnerable to addiction.
Komdigi’s surveillance efforts not only focus on cleaning up gambling content, but also encourage public participation in maintaining a digital security environment. The Ministry stressed the need to work collectively to ensure that Indonesia ‘ s digital space remained clean, healthy and constructive. With the completion of the SAMAN pilot, the Government will enforce stricter regulations to curb illegal online games and ensure that all digital platforms meet local standards, thereby protecting citizens from gambling while fostering a safer and responsible digital environment.