Next govt to continue waging war against online gambling: Minister

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi affirmed that the anti-online gambling crusade initiated by President Joko Widodo will continue under the incoming presidency of Prabowo Subianto.

Apart from online gambling, Setiadi said the president-elect is also determined to eradicate illegal mining, drug abuse, and data leak, which he called the nation's "four threats."

"The four threats cost us billions of US dollars in losses. The threats damage our purchasing power, damage the national economy, and become a serious hindrance to our 2045 Golden Indonesia Vision realization," he said in a press statement received here on Friday.

"Online gambling not only destroys the family economy but also destroys the people's and the nation's economy," he emphasized.

To eradicate online gambling, the ministry will advance the five strategies of commitment, care, consistency, courage, and clear from temptation.

The ministry will also beef up cyber patrol works and handling of online gambling-related keywords in search engines and digital patrols.

Meanwhile, Setiadi revealed that the ministry had taken action against more than 3.38 million online gambling-related promotions and content found online from July 2023 to September 2024.

The ministry had taken down over 29 thousand promotional pages of online gambling from government and educational institution websites.

Moreover, the ministry had instructed Google to take down 20,842 search keywords related to online gambling from November 2023 to August 2024 and Meta to take down 5,173 keywords from December 2023 to August 2024.

The ministry had also requested blocking 573 e-wallet accounts proven to be used for online gambling by Bank Indonesia.