Indonesia bans PayPal, Yahoo Search, and other tech platforms

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has banned several tech platforms, including payment gateway platform PayPal and Yahoo’s search engine, for failing to register as Penyelenggara Sistem Elektroniks (PSEs).

Photo credit: PayPal

According to a 2020 regulation, PSEs or electronic-system operators are individuals, state administrators, business entities, and public members who provide, manage, or operate electronic systems as a service. The regulation requires all private digital platforms operating in Indonesia to register with the so-called “online single submission-risk based approach.”

Other blocked entities include gaming platforms Steam and Origin, gaming titles Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and publisher Epic Games.

However, the ministry has allowed users of PayPal in the country to access the platform until August 5 so they can transfer their funds to other platforms.

“We have communicated with Steam, Dota 2, and CS:GO. They are currently processing the requirements and hopefully, they can complete them in the near future,” said the ministry’s director general of informatics applications, Semuel A Pangerapan, during a recent press conference.

As of July 31, there were 5,453 registered PSEs, which operate 9,039 electronic systems.

The ministry is reviewing other large unregistered PSEs, including ecommerce behemoth Amazon. Some PSEs – such as PayPal – were blocked because they produced invalid or incomplete data, the ministry said.

“This is not only for taxes but also for governance. To build a digital economy, we need a digital ecosystem that is trusted. This is to uphold our sovereignty,” said Semuel.

A version of this article was originally published by Mujahid Fidinillah on Tech in Asia Indonesia.

See also: Indonesia’s OJK launches more stringent regulations for online lenders