Indonesia may block ChatGPT, Cloudflare over registration

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital is considering blocking Cloudflare, ChatGPT, and 23 other internet services that have not registered as private electronic system providers in the country.

Under regulations introduced in 2020, both foreign and local digital platforms must register before operating in Indonesia.

Officials said that failing to register after receiving notification may lead to administrative sanctions, including access restrictions.

The list of notified services includes Dropbox, Duolingo, Marriott, Accor, Shutterstock, Wikimedia Foundation, and Zoho, among others.

The ministry said it is open to assisting companies with the registration process, but stressed that all digital platforms must comply with Indonesian law or risk being blocked.

🔗 Source: Katadata

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Indonesia signals firmer Electronic System Operator (PSE) enforcement; sanctions may include blocking, timing remains unclear

Komdigi, the Ministry of Communication and Digital, warned 25 local and foreign providers that failed to register under PSE rules 1. PM Kominfo 5/2020, Ministerial Regulation Kominfo No. 5 of 2020, sets duties for Electronic System Operators and allows sanctions up to access termination after notice 1. Officials said enforcement is phased and stricter, but no timeline was given 1.
PSE registration runs through the Online Single Submission (OSS) portal 2. The ministry has done outreach for years, and the letters start tighter oversight 1.

Tech companies serving Indonesian users should prepare multi-CDN (multiple Content Delivery Network) strategies now

A Cloudflare block could force instant failover for firms that use it as their only CDN in Indonesia 1. Teams should confirm each provider’s PSE status now and keep backups ready 1. Fastly says sites that move from Akamai to Fastly see a 17% faster Largest Contentful Paint and a 57% faster Time to First Byte 3.
OpenAI, which runs ChatGPT, is on the warning list 1. The ministry has said paid services must register as PSEs, so SaaS teams that rely on ChatGPT should set fallbacks in case access tightens 4.
Infra teams should map use of the 25 named services, including Dropbox storage and Wikimedia APIs, then draft workarounds 1. Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest digital market, so loss of access would bite 1.