Minister Meutya Hafid Denies Handing Over Data of 280 Million Indonesians to US Following Trade Agreement

Jakarta – Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Meutya Hafid has dismissed claims that the government will hand over or exchange data of 280 million Indonesians to the United States following the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART).

“That is completely untrue. Moreover, the notion that the government will exchange data of 280 million people is a hoax that misleads public understanding,” said Meutya at Widya Chandra in South Jakarta on Friday, 27 February 2026.

The Golkar party politician explained that cross-border data transfers have actually been occurring for some time, much like the trade of goods and services. In the digital era, data flows across borders as part of economic activity. For instance, when Indonesians use digital platforms, payment services, or cloud storage services belonging to US companies, user data is automatically stored overseas.

“This is already happening. So for us, this actually provides legal certainty and a legal framework for practices that already exist regarding cross-border data,” Meutya said.

Meutya acknowledged that the government has work to do in urgently establishing a Personal Data Protection Authority.

“That is correct. So we have a responsibility to quickly establish or create a Personal Data Protection Authority. That is true. To then better monitor things going forward,” she said.

However, Meutya stated that the assessment of security standards in the agreement does not necessarily need to be conducted by a Personal Data Protection Authority, even though Indonesia does not yet have such an institution. She cited examples of several European Union countries that she said already have data protection standards equivalent to Indonesia’s Personal Data Protection Law.

Meanwhile, Meutya noted that the United States wants to be considered equivalent in terms of data security. She observed that many cybersecurity companies are based in the United States, so she does not consider it a major concern given that security standards there are already strong.