2,639 Electronic Ads 'Taken Down' by Ministry of Trade

The Ministry of Trade has requested the removal of 2,639 electronic advertisements violating regulatory provisions, conducted through cyber patrols on 21 e-commerce platforms up to March 2026.

Trade Minister Budi Santoso stated that the ministry has requested takedowns of 95 merchant accounts across various marketplaces that repeatedly displayed non-compliant electronic ads over three reporting periods.

The violations involved regulated commodities, including 1,731 alcohol beverage ads; 514 hazardous substance ads; 124 refined sugar crystal ads; 10 subsidized fertilizer ads; 257 Minyakita ads; and three ads for measuring, weighing, and testing equipment (UTTP).

Budi emphasised that the government is strengthening electronic trade oversight (PMSE), both offline and online. Strict measures include account takedowns and final sanctions such as blacklisting and temporary blocking of PMSE services.

By March 2026, the ministry had conducted 104 offline inspections of PMSE businesses, including marketplaces, online retailers, classified ads platforms, daily deals sites, and individual sellers.

As part of law enforcement, the ministry issued 3,310 sanction letters to PMSE businesses across four reporting periods from Q4 2024 to Q3 2025, Budi said.

Final sanctions, including blacklisting and temporary PMSE service blocks, were applied to 52 businesses in Q4 2024, seven in Q1 2025, and 48 in Q2 2025.

Budi stressed the government is enhancing digital trade governance through regulatory and PMSE oversight improvements. The ministry is currently refining Minister of Trade Regulation No. 31 of 2023 to boost local product visibility, facilitate business compliance, ensure digital platform partnership transparency, protect consumers, and improve digital technology governance.