Study on Foreign Electronic System Providers Required to Have Offices in Indonesia Targeted for Completion in 2026

Jakarta — Alexander Sabar, Director General of Digital Space Oversight at the Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs (Kemkomdigi), said the study into the obligation for foreign Electronic System Providers (PSEs) to have representative offices in Indonesia is targeted for completion in 2026. ‘Hopefully it can be finished this year, as soon as possible,’ he said in a spot interview in Jakarta on Friday. He said the study is being conducted to determine whether the obligation for foreign PSEs to have offices in Indonesia will be regulated in the form of a government regulation, a ministerial regulation, or another form. ‘We urge them to have a representative office,’ he said. Earlier, on Wednesday (20 May), it was reported that the Government is encouraging global Electronic System Providers (PSEs) with large numbers of users in Indonesia to have representative offices in Indonesia so that the government can supervise more easily. ‘We recognise that cross-border supervision is complicated, complex, and not simple. Therefore we hope that if they are in Indonesia, we can supervise in the same way as we do for local companies,’ he told the Bisnis Indonesia Forum, held via Jakarta on Wednesday. He said the move to find solutions when there are operational issues could be easier if global PSEs have representative offices in Indonesia. ‘We are also considering expanding this obligation so that these platforms can communicate more quickly with the government, particularly when there are matters requiring attention, so that they have representative offices in the country,’ he said. The presence of global PSE offices in the country would facilitate enforcement and efforts to provide solutions to protect Indonesian platform users from exposure to negative content such as hoaxes, scams, and pornography.