Komdigi's Explanation Regarding the Temporary Block of Wikimedia Commons
The Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) temporarily blocked Wikimedia Commons, the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia’s ecosystem, on Wednesday, 25 March 2026. However, Wikimedia Commons became accessible again on Thursday, 26 March 2026.
Director General of Digital Space Supervision Alexander Sabar acknowledged the temporary restriction of access to Wikimedia Commons. The reason was that Komdigi’s control system detected indications of gambling-laden content on Wikimedia Commons.
“Begun from the system detecting keywords (wording) and visual content associated with similarities to prohibited content categories, particularly gambling. Thus, the system categorised Wikimedia Commons for handling,” said Alexander in Komdigi’s official statement on Friday, 27 March 2026.
He explained that the content control detection is preventive in nature. Under certain conditions, the system can produce false positives against neutral sites with educational functions.
After receiving information about the blocking, Komdigi’s team immediately manually verified the indications of negative content findings. Komdigi conducted a re-review of the classification parameters to ensure detection accuracy. “Once identified as a false positive, we immediately normalised access to Wikimedia Commons,” he stated.
Komdigi has also audited the system and internal technical coordination of the control team to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of the system and operational mechanisms. The aim is to improve the accuracy of negative content detection.
According to him, the blocking could have been prevented if Wikimedia Commons had been included in the whitelist database. However, Wikimedia has not yet completed the registration process as a Private Electronic System Operator (PSE) in Indonesia. Therefore, Wikimedia Commons is not yet on the blocking system’s whitelist.
He also urged Wikimedia to promptly complete the registration process until the PSE Registration Mark is issued as a form of compliance with Indonesian regulatory provisions. “We are committed to keeping Indonesia’s digital space safe from illegal content, and ensuring every policy step is taken proportionally, evidence-based, and prioritising the principle of prudence,” said Alexander.
The blocking of Wikimedia Commons was reported by the official Wikipedia Indonesia account on platform X. In a post on 25 March, Wikipedia stated that the Wikimedia Commons website had been blocked by Komdigi. “Wikimedia Commons is a website used to store files (photos, videos, etc.) with free licences. This website plays an important role in storing (or displaying) files used on Wikipedia websites and Wikimedia projects.”
After the block was lifted, Wikipedia also informed about it on 26 March 2026. “Access to the Wikimedia Commons website has been reopened by Komdigi. In addition, access to the Wikipedia website continues to run normally. However, the auth.wikimedia.org domain is still blocked by Komdigi. That domain is used for user authentication across all Wikimedia Project websites (one of which is Wikipedia). As a result, users cannot log in to those websites to contribute.”