Apple & Microsoft agree to 'rubbery' new content law in Indonesia

Big Tech companies, including Apple, have registered for licences in Indonesia, which gives local authorities "flexible" and "rubbery" powers to censor platforms.

Ahead of Indonesia's July 20, 2022 deadline, major Big Tech companies appear to have all agreed to the country's new content laws. A total of 207 non-Indonesia companies signed up, reportedly some just hours before the deadline.

According to the Financial Times, signing up to the new regulation means that local authorities can demand content be removed if they disturb "society" or "public order." They can also demand access to the companies' data.

The detail of what data can be demanded, and the definitions of what constitutes public order or societal disturbance, are intentionally vague. The country's Alliance of Independent Journalists described the criteria as "flexible" and "rubbery."

It's not clear when Apple signed up its iCloud platform to the law, and the company has yet to comment publicly. Twitter appears to have signed on the deadline day, where Meta's Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram joined a day before.

Microsoft's cloud service is among the platforms now bound by the laws.

A spokesperson for TikTok told the Financial Times that it had signed up because it "will always comply with the prevailing regulations in any market where we operate." The spokesperson added that that the company believes, "the Indonesian government will honor freedom of expression."

Twitter told the publication only that it remained committed to encouraging an "open internet," and looked forward to working with the Indonesian government.

If firms did not sign up to the new regulations, they would reportedly have first faced warnings, then fines. Ultimately they could banned in the country entirely.

It's far from the first time that Apple has bowed to censorship or potential censorship overseas. Ahead of Russian elections in 2021, Apple and Google both dropped the official opposition app from their app stores.

Both companies later restored the app, but pointlessly as they only did so after the election.

11 Comments

gatorguy 24609 comments · 13 Years

About 2 years ago

The companies, including Apple, have also agreed to a value-added tax on digital goods, virtual or content connected. How the VAT is computed should be interesting.

22july2013 3725 comments · 11 Years

gatorguy said:

The companies, including Apple, have also agreed to a value-added tax on digital goods, virtual or content connected. How the VAT is computed should be interesting.

I'm already paying that type of tax in Canada on my Apple One service package. Why is it interesting?

appleuseryeah 50 comments · 3 Years

gatorguy said:

The companies, including Apple, have also agreed to a value-added tax on digital goods, virtual or content connected. How the VAT is computed should be interesting.

Ruh-roh… VAT’s not very good for consumers… they’ll be simmering in a vat of taxes that will slowly go higher and higher. Vat’s not a good idea, but ve haf vays of taxing you!

Try the overly taxed salmon, I’d be here all week but the rent is too damned high 🤣😂

mike_galloway 115 comments · 4 Years

VAT and sales tax are much the same as the end-user pays the tax. One negative is that VAT requires extra accounting by those in the middle of the supply chain, however, this is countered by not requiring to determine who is, and is not, an end user.

Import/exports can have problems between VAT and sales tax countries in the form of double taxation, which usually require special measures.

22july2013 said:

gatorguy said:

The companies, including Apple, have also agreed to a value-added tax on digital goods, virtual or content connected. How the VAT is computed should be interesting.

I'm already paying that type of tax in Canada on my Apple One service package. Why is it interesting?

How is it determined? Are the vendors, ie Apple, supplying transaction cost specifics to the country so that taxing authorities can compute the value added? That's why it's interesting to me.