Indonesia lifted its ban on Steam and Yahoo as both companies complied with the country’s restrictive laws governing online activities.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Information and Communications (Kominfo) announced in an update posted on Twitter that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 have also returned to normal operations.
Last week, Indonesia blocked access to Steam, PayPal, Yahoo, Epic Games and Origin after companies failed to meet registration deadlines with the country’s database. The requirement comes with a broader law, known as MR5, first introduced by Indonesia in 2020.
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The law gives the Indonesian government the power to order platforms to take down content deemed illegal as well as to request data from specific users. In 2021, digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the policy an “infringement of human rights”.
Although PayPal has not yet complied, Indonesia has unblocked access to the service since July 31 to give users the opportunity to withdraw funds and make payments. According to Antara News, PayPal is said to have plans to register with the country’s database of thousands of islands soon.
Meanwhile, two games Fortnite and FIFA are still banned in this country, making the games unable to achieve the expected revenue in the Indonesian market. The ban has caused a backlash among users here, causing a trend with the hashtag #BlockirKominfo (blocking Kominfo) being widely shared on Twitter. Some users used VPN to play games from banned services.
Steam used to be blocked in the most populous country in the SEA region.
Previously, companies needed to register by July 29, 2022 to show compliance with the new rules, with some companies including Meta, Amazon, Alphabet.
However, a text from a senior official from the Indonesian Ministry of Communications listed a number of websites that were blocked after the deadline, including Yahoo, PayPal and various websites owned by Valve and Epic Games.
Reuters reports Steam, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike have been blocked, and it is expected that both the Epic Games Store and Fortnite are banned in the country. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad said via Twitter that the affected companies have not completed registration and comply with the new regulations.
