KUALA LUMPUR – Indonesia has banned search engine DuckDuckGo, which is equipped with privacy protections, citing it could be used to access pornography and online gambling websites.
The country’s communications ministry told Reuters today the decision to block is due to “the many complaints made to us about the rampant online gambling and pornography content in its search results.”
Online gambling and pornography are deemed illegal in Indonesia, as well as having strict rules on online obscene content. Reddit and Vimeo are also blocked.
Earlier, Indonesia has been cracking down on online gambling in the last few months, including banning access to such sites.
It was also reported that three million Indonesians gambled online last year, spending an estimated US$20 billion, which came up to 1.5% of the country’s gross domestic product. – August 2, 2024