Dermatologist Richard Lee arrested for ITE Law violation

Dermatologist and YouTuber Richard Lee last Wednesday (11 August) was arrested for allegedly violating ITE Law. He was arrested at his house in Palembang, South Sumatra. Lee's arrest is presumed to be related to the defamation lawsuit filed by celebrity Kartika Putri.

In August 2020, Lee uploaded on YouTube a video of him reviewing a skincare product from Helwa. He claimed that the product contains hydroquinone. A few months later, he uploaded another video in which he concluded that the product contains 5.7% of hydroquinone, exceeding the permissible limit of 2%. The use of products containing more than 2% hydroquinone requires a doctor’s prescription.

Hydroquinone is a chemical ingredient commonly used for photo development. In cosmetics, it is commonly used for hair oxidiser or in artificial nail glue. According to the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), hydroquinone bleaches the skin via its toxic effect on skin cells by delaying melanin formation.

In the video, Lee described the product as “abal-abal” or questionable/untrustworthy in nature. As the brand ambassador of the product, Kartika Putri invited him to discuss the issue along with her lawyer. It ended up with two legal notices from Kartika’s side. The Palembang-based dermatologist responded with a public apology on his YouTube channel.

However, Kartika proceeded to report him for alleged defamation using Article 27 Paragraph 3 of the ITE Law. Lee in February 2021 answered police summons for questioning. A few days after, he announced that he would stop reviewing harmful beauty creams.

Reni Effendi, wife of Lee, documented the arrest. Her video shows the Athena Beauty Clinic owner refusing to budge and comply without his lawyer. Later, a group of policemen transported him forcefully by lifting him off the ground. 

Razman Arif Nasution, Lee’s legal representative, accused the police of treating his client like, as Reni described it, a “terrorist”. However, Jakarta Police Head of Public Relations Sr. Commr. Yusri Yunus said that the arrest was in accordance with the standard operating procedure along with an arrest warrant.

However, the arrest was done under the suspicion of illegal access, in which Lee is accused of illegally accessing and stealing his own Instagram account that is seized as evidence for police investigation into the defamation case. Lee is charged with Article 30 in conjunction with Article 46 of the ITE Law and Article 231 of the Criminal Code and or Article 221 of the Criminal Code.

One day after the arrest, Lee was released. According to Yusri, the police did not arrest Lee as he was being cooperative during the investigation. However, the dermatologist is subjected to compulsory reporting.

Lee on 17 August uploaded a video of his discussion with his lawyer regarding the illegal access claim. In the 24 minutes long video, he said that he no longer has any access to his Instagram account since two months ago as the account was confiscated by the police. “The password is changed by the police,” he added.

However, it happened that his assistant uploaded a Facebook content using Facebook Business Suite, which is connected to his Instagram account. 

Facebook Business Suite is a tool to manage one’s business in which one can manage their Facebook and Instagram account using one platform. Facebook Business Suite allows users to connect their Facebook and Instagram account to post one content simultaneously. Even if the password of the Instagram account has been changed, the feature remains active unless manually disabled or disconnected.

In the same video, Razman questioned whether his client is eligible to be subjected to the illegal access charge under this situation. He also stated that this case is rather new to Indonesia, where the use of third-party platforms for social media content management is common only for businesses.