Minister calls on public to actively wage war against online gambling

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi encouraged citizens, especially members of the younger generation, to play an active role in protecting the nation from the detrimental impacts of online gambling.

“I would like to invite everyone to combat online gambling, as its practices can adversely affect not only the economy of families but also the relations among members of a family,” Setiadi noted in his office’s statement received here on Monday.

Setiadi underlined that advancements in technology in the era of digitization had both positive and negative impacts on society, noting that people are required to use technology prudently to avoid likely societal distortion.

In this context, he cited online gambling and online loans as examples of negative practices emerging from the rapid developments in digital technology.

“We have witnessed many cases of deadly domestic violence that were caused by online loans and online gambling. This is the downside of digitalization,” he pointed out.

Bearing that in mind, he encouraged young people to take part in protecting society and future generations from such cases.

To that end, he called on educational institutions to actively disseminate information on the threats posed by online gambling by exerting efforts to boost people’s digital literacy.

“It is necessary to intensify the promotion of a curriculum that highlights the positive side of digital technology in a bid to prevent digital crimes,” he stated.

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Setiadi further affirmed that his ministry had prepared a regulation that aims to protect Indonesia’s younger generations from the misuse of conveniences offered by digital technology.

“We will soon issue a regulation concerning child online protection, which will be an instrument for protecting children in the digital space. That way, we seek to help our children grow with positive contents,” he affirmed.

Earlier, on Saturday (June 15), Setiadi highlighted that his side had managed to block nearly three million pieces of online gambling content within a year.

“We have taken down 2,945,150 pieces of online gambling content from July 17, 2023, to June 13, 2024,” the minister noted in a statement from his office.

On the previous day, President Joko Widodo issued a decree on the establishment of the Task Force for Eradicating Online Gambling that is mandated to eradicate online gambling practices from Indonesia’s digital space.

The task force, whose working period will last until December 31 this year, is chaired by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Hadi Tjahjanto.

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