JAKARTA, Oct 10 — To eliminate illegal activities and foster a more secure online environment for its residents, Indonesia blocked 3,796,902 online gambling sites between July 17 last year and yesterday.
In a statement, the Communication and Information Technology Ministry said it also blocked 31,751 gambling-related links on education institution websites and 31,812 links on government sites.
Minister Budi Arie Setiadi said: “The blocking is part of our ongoing cyber patrols,” adding that there is a need to protect vulnerable groups, especially young people, from the dangers of online gambling.
The ministry, working with Bank Indonesia, has acted against 573 e-wallet accounts linked to gambling and has asked the Financial Services Authority to block 7,599 bank accounts connected to these activities.
“At least 21,000 gambling-related keywords have been reported to Google and over 5,793 to Meta as part of our strategy,” he added.
Earlier, CNN Indonesia reported on Monday a 36-year-old father in East Jakarta was arrested for selling his 11-month-old child for 15 million rupiah (RM4,098.08) to buy two new mobile phones for daily use and online gambling.
The child’s mother, who works in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, alerted authorities after finding out what had happened.
The Financial Transaction Reporting and Analysis Centre revealed that online gambling transactions in the republic reached 100 trillion rupiah in the first quarter of this year.
— Bernama
