Komdigi's Response on Authority to Take Down News
Director General of Digital Space Supervision at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi), Alexander Sabar, stated that Komdigi cannot take down news without a recommendation from the Press Council. “Because the authority to handle press products is fundamentally under the regulation of the Press Law,” Alexander told Tempo on Monday, 22 June 2026.
The statement was a response to a request for confirmation regarding a Tempo article titled “The Difference Between Press Bans Then and Now,” published on 22 June 2026. The article commemorated the 32nd anniversary of the banning of Tempo magazine, Editor, and Detik tabloid by the New Order regime on 21 June 1994.
Alexander emphasised that content confirmed as press work would not be taken down because it falls outside Komdigi’s authority. If content has already been removed but is later declared to be media content, Komdigi can normalise the takedown order.
The publishing licences (SIUPP) of Tempo magazine, Editor, and Detik tabloid were revoked by the Department of Information on 21 June 1994. After Soeharto stepped down in 1998, Minister of Information Yunus Yosfiah abolished the SIUPP requirement as a press licence. The current Press Law only requires press institutions to be legal entities to operate information publishing, meaning the government no longer has a tool to muzzle the press.
However, press suppression still occurs. Secretary General of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia, Bayu Wardhana, said the precarious business situation of mass media makes media companies vulnerable to being silenced. He explained that suppression can occur through the entry of investors or shareholders who are pro-government, who then intervene in editorial decisions. “The media is not banned or stopped, but the suppression happens by becoming shareholders or through government advertising,” Bayu said on Sunday, 21 June 2026.
Another form of suppression is through civil or criminal lawsuits. Although the Press Law protects media from being sued until a dispute is resolved by the Press Council, the high cost of court proceedings burdens small media companies. Ultimately, media outlets resort to self-censorship of their news.
Bayu added that media suppression also exists in the digital space. The government, through the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, can compel social media platforms to take down or remove news content. One recent case involved the ministry requesting digital platforms to take down a Magdalene article about the investigation results of the Advocacy Team for Democracy into the acid attack on Kontras activist Andrie Yunus, which was published on 30 March 2026.