AMSI: US-Indonesia Trade Agreement Threatens National Media Industry

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — The Indonesian Cyber Media Association (AMSI) has expressed concern over provisions in the latest trade agreement between Indonesia and the United States. Specifically, it highlights the clauses that restrict the Indonesian government’s authority to require US-based digital platforms to pay compensation or licensing fees to Indonesian media companies.

“AMSI believes that the inclusion of these clauses cannot be separated from the political and economic pressure exerted by the United States government on Indonesia,” AMSI stated in a written statement released on Wednesday.

The provision is seen as potentially conflicting with the spirit and direction of national policies that have long sought to build a fairer relationship between digital platforms and media companies. This is in line with national regulations regarding cooperation between digital platforms and media companies, including mechanisms for paid licensing and revenue sharing for the use of news content.

This provision places the Indonesian government in a difficult position: on the one hand, it must maintain bilateral trade relations and opportunities to increase the economic value of key sectors, but on the other hand, it risks sacrificing the interests of the national press industry and the sovereignty of digital policy.

Indonesia has previously taken progressive steps to ensure fair compensation for the use of journalistic content by digital platforms through Presidential Regulation No. 32 of 2024 concerning the Responsibility of Digital Platforms for Quality Journalism. This policy was born out of the awareness that journalism is a public good and that the sustainability of national media is a prerequisite for a healthy democracy.

The prohibition of imposing compensation obligations on digital platform companies could potentially widen the economic value gap between global platforms and local publishers, which have already faced significant pressure due to changes in algorithms, dominance in distribution, and the shift of advertising revenue to technology platforms.

However, amid these changes, AMSI remains confident that global digital platforms will continue to need and cooperate with Indonesian media companies. Fact-based, investigative, and in-depth journalistic content remains the foundation of credibility in the digital information ecosystem.

AMSI hopes that platforms will continue to establish licensing partnerships with publishers due to the need for quality and trustworthy content. In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), the dependence of platforms on credible data and journalistic content is increasing.

Therefore, changes in the trade agreement framework should not automatically halt commercial cooperation between platforms and publishers. However, it must be acknowledged that without a strong policy framework, the bargaining position of Indonesian publishers will become even weaker in negotiations with digital platform companies.

AMSI requests that the Indonesian government, particularly the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, continue to consistently protect the interests of the national press. This protection is becoming increasingly crucial in the era of AI, when journalistic content is used to train large language models, automatic summarization, and various generative AI-based services.

AMSI believes that the relationship between AI platforms and publishers should be built on the principles of fair compensation for the use of journalistic content, transparency in the distribution and use of content, recognition of copyright and economic rights of publishers, and equal collective negotiation mechanisms.

Without this framework, AMSI believes that the risk of exploitation of Indonesian journalistic content will increase, while the economic benefits will flow abroad. AMSI emphasizes that international trade policies should not erode Indonesia’s sovereignty in regulating the domestic information ecosystem. The national media is not just a business entity, but a democratic infrastructure and part of national resilience in the field of information.

AMSI hopes that the Indonesian government will continue to strive to ensure that the implementation of this trade agreement still provides policy space for the country to regulate the relationship between digital platforms and media companies, develop a fair AI regulatory framework, and guarantee the sustainability of national media as a pillar of democracy.