🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The deal may bypass Indonesia’s usual adequacy process under its data protection law

• The government says the deal follows the Personal Data Protection Law (UU PDP), yet the text asks Indonesia to treat the US as “adequate” for cross-border data transfers under Indonesian law 1.
• That pledge came even though, as of July 2025, Indonesia still had not set up the PDP Institution, the body required to oversee and enforce the PDP Law, or issued an official list of countries that meet the “adequacy” standard 2.
• Critics say the wording creates a practical carve-out for the US and could clash with domestic rules, including data localization ideas often linked to the PDP framework 3.
• The wider pact sits under the Reciprocal Trade (ART) framework, which commits Indonesia to ease digital trade with the US, and one commentary calls it lopsided with 217 obligations for Indonesia and six for the US 4.

A trade deal’s fine print could reshape Indonesia’s digital policy

• The deal bars “discriminatory digital service taxes”, which fits a broader US push to use trade pressure against these taxes worldwide 5.
• The clause could also narrow room for policies like Indonesia’s “Publisher Rights” regulation, Presidential Regulation or Perpres No. 32/2024, which tells platforms to work with press companies to support quality journalism, including possible paid licensing or revenue-sharing arrangements 4.
• The text also loosens local content rules, which critics of the ART say could leave Indonesia mainly as an end market for foreign platforms and reduce chances to build domestic capacity 3.