Antara News·Indonesia·Monday, September 14, 2026 at 02:37 PM

Indonesia may require global digital platforms to open local offices

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Farhan Arda Nugraha, Yashinta Difa

If this is not complied with, we may be forced to revise or add regulations..

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Communication and Digital Affairs Ministry is reviewing existing regulations that could require global digital platforms to establish representative offices in Indonesia, as the government seeks to strengthen oversight and ensure compliance with domestic laws.

The policy review comes amid growing government frustration over difficulties in coordinating with foreign technology companies, particularly on digital safety standards and child protection obligations for social media platforms such as X, which currently operates in Indonesia without a local office.

"We note that X does not yet have a representative office in Indonesia; consequently, coordination, monitoring and evaluation are difficult, making it hard to ensure follow-up on the fulfillment of child protection obligations," Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said during a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

She explained that while the government had previously asked major digital companies to voluntarily establish local entities, formal regulatory revisions could be introduced if platforms continue to operate without local representation.

"If this is not complied with, we may be forced to revise or add regulations to ensure that platforms—specifically major ones, the scale of which we are currently assessing—are required to establish representative offices in Indonesia," Meutya said.

The ministry's Director General of Digital Space Supervision, Alexander Sabar, noted that various current laws and regulations do not explicitly require foreign digital service providers to maintain representative offices in the country.

However, the regulatory framework is now under review as part of proposed amendments to implementing regulations under the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.

"This is a subject for further review regarding a potential requirement for digital platforms to have offices in Indonesia," Alexander said.

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