Indonesia blocks Steam, Epic Games, PayPal, and more

Indonesia on Saturday announced it has blocked a host of popular gaming sites and web services citing failure to comply with new licensing rules in the Southeast Asian country.

The Indonesian government has said that the ban was put in place for companies that has failed to register with Kominfo, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, by July 29.

According to multiple reports, the affected companies and platforms include Steam, Epic Games, Ubisoft, Origin, Nintendo, Yahoo, Xandr and PayPal. On the other hand, companies that have already registered with Kominfo include Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Battle.net, Discord, and Riot Games.

Quick update for those asking-

The blocks are not permanent, assuming the companies register and comply with the regulation, and Kominfo has already reached out to these companies to ensure compliance and reverse the block.

Here is a list of affected services: pic.twitter.com/6K121xVEMP

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) July 30, 2022

It may be mentioned that PayPal has since been temporarily unblocked for five days to allow Indonesian users to withdraw their balance. According to Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad, Valve is also working with the Indonesian government and has already applied for registration. This means Indonesian Steam users can expect the platform to be online sooner than later.

The new rules, first announced in 2020, requires companies deemed "Private Electronic System Providers" to register with Kominfo by July 29 or face "a formal warning, a monetary fine, and access termination."

Last meme for today#BlokirKominfo pic.twitter.com/iT4w4qUVLZ

— Echa_Neko 🔞 | Open Coms (@Echa_Neko) July 30, 2022

Needless to say, the news of the ban on these platforms did not go down well with a lot of Indonesian users. Hashtags like "BlokirKominfo" has been trending on Indonesian Twitter and many has criticised the controversial move by their government.