Kominfo mulls over banning online game PUBG and Free Fire

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Kominfo) recently received a letter of complaint from Sapuan, regent of Mukomuko, Bengkulu, requesting the ministry to take action on popular online games, such as PUBG, Free Fire, Mobile Legends and Higgs Domino.

The request came from Mukomuko local community’s complaints. The community states that the aforementioned online games are bad influence to children as they bring negative impact to children’s health, growth and education. There are also concerns that the games would affect children psychologically and turn them into self-centered individuals. Based on the complaints, the Mukomuko administration concluded that this problem cannot be solved only by parental intervention, but it also requires government intervention.

The ministry on Friday, 25 June issued a statement that it is reviewing the complaint. Dedy Permadi, spokesperson of the ministry, said the ministry will process and review all requests to ban the games in accordance with existing regulations. 

Dedy further explained that banning online game websites and apps is regulated in Communication and Information Technology Ministerial Regulation No.5/2020 on Private Sector Electronic System Operators. The regulation is later revised to Communication and Information Technology Ministerial Regulation No.10/2021. The regulation also gives the ministry authority to block online games if they contain anything that goes against regulations.