Indonesia Threatens To Block Whatsapp Messaging Over Obscene Content
Indonesia on Monday vowed to block Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp Messenger within 48 hours if the service did not ensure that obscene Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) images were removed.
WhatsApp, which is widely used in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, said message encryption prevented it from monitoring the third-party providers Indonesians use to search for GIFs.
It asked the government to work with the providers instead.
Semuel Pangerapan, a director general at Indonesia’s communications and informatics ministry, said WhatsApp would be blocked within 48 hours unless the images supplied by third parties were taken off the service.
Pangerapan said of the proposed block.
The ministry had sent three letters to WhatsApp over the issue, he said.
“They...