Komdigi Enhances Technology as Commitment to Combat Online Gambling Sites

Medan (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) continues to enhance the use of technology as a form of commitment to combating online gambling sites in Indonesia. “We remain committed to seeking and utilising technologies created by the nation’s own children,” said Minister of Communication and Digital (Menkomdigi) Meutya Hafid in Medan on Wednesday. Meutya stated that her ministry is also leveraging the latest AI-based technologies to fight online gambling in Indonesia. She noted that to date, they have blocked access to around 3.2 million online gambling sites and are continuously strengthening eradication efforts. “Essentially, such content keeps replicating. That’s what we found in the Hayam Wuruk case,” she said. “One site can expand into 75 sites and continue to camouflage themselves to evade crawling detection. However, that does not deter us from continuously updating our technology,” she added. Crawling is an automated process performed by search engines or web bots to systematically explore various web pages. Therefore, her side is accelerating the strengthening of technology in eradication efforts by removing those online gambling sites. In addition, Meutya said that enforcement through site takedowns will not be effective without increasing public awareness. “And we understand that takedown of sites alone will not be effective if not accompanied by public awareness,” she stated. For that reason, she said the role of the public, including in household environments, is important in fighting online gambling through non-technological approaches. Furthermore, she added that other stakeholders such as the police, Financial Services Authority (OJK), banks, and social media platforms also play a role in monitoring and removing online gambling advertisements.