Director General of Digital Space Supervision Alexander Sabar confirmed that the government recently blocked access to Wikimedia Commons after the ministry’s content moderation system detected indications of information linked to online gambling. Access was restored on Wednesday night (March 25).
Speaking in Central Jakarta on Friday, he explained that the oversight system flagged the online media repository as requiring “handling” after identifying keywords and visual content that seemingly endorse activities deemed illegal in Indonesia.
Sabar underscored that, as a preventive tool, the automated system may under certain circumstances generate false signals against neutral or educational websites.
“Upon being notified of the access severance, we promptly mobilized a technical team to conduct manual verification of the flagged content and review classification parameters to confirm the accuracy of detection,” he said.
The official added that his team reopened access to the website shortly after declaring the flagging a “false positive.”
In a corrective measure, he continued, the Komdigi Ministry went on to launch a comprehensive audit and evaluation of the moderation mechanism to enhance effectiveness and accuracy in identifying negative content in the digital space.
While acknowledging the system’s error, Sabar stressed that such a case could have been avoided if Wikimedia Commons had been legally registered as an ESP in the ministry’s database.
“We are committed to safeguarding Indonesia’s digital space from illegal content while ensuring that every step and policy is implemented proportionally and carefully, grounded in evidence. Public trust remains at the core of our work,” he concluded.
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Translator: Livia K, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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