Meta says not obliged to pay for news content in Indonesia following Jokowi’s decree for big tech to do so

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JAKARTA: Following a decree by Indonesian President Joko Widodo for digital platforms in the country to pay media that provide them with content, Meta Platforms – the parent company of Facebook – on Wednesday (Feb 21) said that the firm has no obligation to do so.

Mr Rafael Frankel, Meta’s Director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia, said that despite the new regulation, the firm is not obliged to pay for news content posted by publishers voluntarily.

“After undergoing several consultations with policymakers, we understand that Meta will not be obliged to pay for news content posted by news publishers voluntarily to our platform,” Mr Frankel was reported as saying by CNN Indonesia.

The media outlet further reported that Meta claimed that its users do not go to its platforms to look for news content. Instead, the tech giant said that news publishers have voluntarily decided to share its content on their various platforms and not the other way around.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Widodo signed the regulation that requires digital platforms to pay media that provide them with content, in a move the outgoing Indonesian president said is aimed at helping the media industry level the field with big tech, Reuters reported.

“The spirit of the regulation is … to ensure a fair cooperation between media and digital platforms, provide clearer cooperation framework between them,” said Jokowi, as the president is popularly known.

Digital platforms in Indonesia include Meta Platforms’ Facebook, Alphabet’s Google and some local aggregators.

Google said it will review the regulation. It has worked with news publishers and the government to build a sustainable news ecosystem in Indonesia, its spokesperson said.

Google had last year said that the regulation would restrict public access to diverse sources of news instead of promoting quality journalism.

Australia in 2021 became the first country to require digital platforms to pay for news, while Canada followed in June 2023. Other countries such as Brazil, New Zealand and the United States are also looking to pass similar laws.

Jokowi said the drafting process of the regulation, proposed three years ago, had been very long due to different opinions among media and digital platforms.

The regulation posted on the government’s website suggests cooperation between digital platforms and media companies could be in the form of paying licenses or sharing data of news users.

A committee would be formed to ensure digital platforms fulfil their responsibilities to the media companies, it said.

The regulation, which takes effect in six months, would not harm content creators as it applied only to digital platforms, Jokowi said.

Following Jokowi’s announcement on Tuesday, the head of the country’s Press Council – an independent institution to protect press freedom in Indonesia – said that it will form a committee to support the new regulation, Tempo reported.

“This committee is tasked with making considerations, receiving input, and seeing developments,” said Press Council Chair Ninik Rahayu, adding that it will be tasked with ensuring the fulfillment of the obligations of digital platform companies and the implementation of quality journalism practices in Indonesia.

Content creators had previously complained it could restrict their operations.

Indonesia’s communication and information minister, Mr Budi Arie Setiadi, in a statement said the regulation was part of government efforts to ensure media companies “are not eroded” by digital platforms.

In Australia, the News Media Bargaining Code took effect in March 2021 and tech firms have since signed deals with media outlets compensating them for content which generated clicks and advertising dollars, according to a report by its Treasury Department.

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Japan receives more than 2.6 million visitors in January

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TOKYO: Japan welcomed more than 2 million visitors for an eighth consecutive month in January, official data showed on Wednesday (Feb 21), setting the stage for a potential record year for tourism. The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure was 2.69 million last month, down slightly from 2.73Continue Reading

Thailand eyes ‘Singapore model’ for casinos and mulls online gambling too. Could it be a winning hand?

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MONEY LOST ACROSS THE BORDER

The current sources of online gambling Thailand are illegal and have long been connected to various criminal activities, such as money laundering, drug and human trafficking.

Extensive scamming operations working in close proximity to gambling dens in border areas have been well documented.

Thai police officers have also been connected to such illicit activities. Last September, several officers were found to be involved in running illegal online gambling sites, which led to raids at multiple locations, including houses belonging to Thailand’s deputy national police chief Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn.

At present, it is estimated that vast sums of Thai money are leaking out of the country via illegal gambling, offshore and online.

Legalising on-site casinos has been framed as one solution to diverting money away from such activity, into the coffers of the government instead.

Mr Karit Pannaim, a Move Forward Party MP and member of the parliamentary committee studying the legalisation proposal said he believes legal casinos could make a dent in the illegal activities occurring in border gambling dens, including in the province he represents, Tak, on the border with Myanmar.

“If we have an entertainment complex, we will reduce the money that flows along the borders,” he said.

But identifying the scale of illegal gambling in Thailand is very difficult, according to Dr Nualnoi. She said the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a sharp rise in online gambling within the country, when gamblers were unable to cross the border.

Her centre’s research found that the number of online gamblers in Thailand doubled to 1.9 million people in 2021 during the worst of the lockdown periods. Gross gaming revenue in the country was estimated at US$2.8 billion for that year.

“A lot of them play inside the country now. And the ones who are providing this online gambling are all Thai,” she told CNA.

“If you have legal casinos, it doesn’t mean illegal casinos will disappear. It’s another story,” said. “When you have legal casinos, you need to supplant the illegal ones, otherwise they’re just other places for people to gamble in the country.”

Mr Thanakorn Komkris, the secretary-general of Stop Gambling Foundation, said without a proper crackdown on such illegal operations, Thailand cannot hope to have a sustainable gambling industry.

“If we don’t want the people to spend money outside the country, the government should put pressure in every way possible to stop people from accessing this (illegal gambling). Legal gambling doesn’t decrease illegal gambling,” he said.

The government announced last year that it had shut down thousands of gaming sites and dealt with thousands of illegal gambling cases.

Mr Thanakorn said he is still worried that the government will rush legislation that does not ensure the industry is properly controlled and managed. 

“I’m also afraid that it will be done in a way that it’s an excuse to do a ‘sandbox’ or they legalise it first and do the control measures after, like the decriminalisation of cannabis,” he said.

The legalisation of cannabis in Thailand in 2022 – namely allowing its possession, cultivation, distribution, consumption, and sale – came hard and fast. 

Throughout the country, especially in popular tourist cities, marijuana dispensaries surfaced at a rapid pace and the industry had enjoyed freewheeling liberties to expand. This month, the government said it would urgently introduce a bill to ban recreational use of the drug.

“We have a lot of lessons about doing it first and fixing it later. We can’t do this because we will not be able to catch up with problems or stop it later,” Mr Thanakorn said.

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What is the state of Indonesia’s economy heading into elections?

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INDONESIA’S NICKEL POLICY

The nickel boom comes on the back of President Joko Widodo’s resource nationalism push.

Indonesia has the world’s biggest reserves of nickel but exports of the metal were banned in 2020 to capture more of their value. 

The so-called “commodity downstreaming”, where natural commodities are processed onshore, is a bid to establish more domestic smelters and produce more nickel products instead of just exporting raw nickel.

Nickel is used in the making of stainless steel or batteries.

Outgoing shipments of nickel products hit US$30 billion in 2022, more than 10 times what they were in 2013, boosted by demand for batteries used in electronic vehicles (EVs). 

JOKOWI’S LEGACY

The last decade saw numerous structural reforms and changes that improved the Indonesian economy, said Ms Pranjul Bhandari, chief economist of India and Indonesia at HSBC.

In addition to the nickel policy, Mr Jokowi’s onimbus law that aimed to attract investments and create jobs, as well as mega infrastructure projects, could become part of his legacy. 

Nusantara, the nation’s planned new capital in East Kalimantan, also attracted more than US$2.6 billion worth of investment last year.

Ms Bhandari said manifestos from the main parties contesting in the election look set to continue with the current administration’s economic policies.

“Almost all the presidential hopefuls are supportive of the downstreaming strategy. Many other laws, for example the omnibus law, has now been enshrined so those benefits will continue to see the light of the day,” she said.

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CNN Philippines to close due to financial losses

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MANILA: CNN Philippines will stop operations from Jan 31 due to “significant financial losses”, its owner announced on Monday (Jan 29), in the latest blow for the media industry in the Southeast Asian nation. The broadcaster began operating in the Philippines in 2015 as a franchise of CNN, delivering mainlyContinue Reading

China to cut amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending

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The latest decision is “another step in the right direction, but monetary policy by itself is not enough to boost economic momentum”, Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, told AFP. “A more proactive fiscal stance focusing on consumption is more important and effective,” said Zhang. “TheContinue Reading