Hi,

Today, in collaboration with Sinar Project, the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) released a new research report:

*The State of Internet Censorship in Indonesia:* https://ooni.torproject.org/post/indonesia-internet-censorship/

OONI network measurement data collected from 21 local vantage points confirms the *blocking of 161 websites* in Indonesia between 22nd June 2016 to 1st March 2017. Indonesian ISPs appear to be implementing block pages primarily through DNS hijacking.

Multiple sites expressing criticism towards Islam were found to be blocked, possibly under Article 156(a) of Indonesia’s Criminal Code which prohibits blasphemy against religions.

Other blocked sites include:

* LGBT sites; * A blog expressing political criticism; * An independent U.S. news outlet; * A site, led by female activist artists, that defends gender and ethnic rights; * Anonymity tool sites; * Hosting platforms; * An online translator; * Popular online dating sites; * Sites promoting sex education and AIDS/HIV prevention; * A site featuring tattoos and piercings; * Gaming sites.

*Vimeo and Reddit were found to be blocked* in some networks in Indonesia, even though their ban was lifted more than two years ago. A popular animal rights site was also found to be blocked, possibly because it was mistaken for a pornographic website due to its domain (peta.xxx).

Under the MICT’s 2014 decree, Indonesian ISPs are granted the authority to ban “negative content” at their own discretion, regardless of whether such sites are included in the official Trust Positif blocklist. This excessive authority granted to Indonesian ISPs may explain why many different types of sites were found to be blocked across different networks.

On a positive note, internet censorship in Indonesia can probably be circumvented through the use of Tor software. OONI data shows that the Tor network was accessible in Indonesia during the testing period.

Please share the report with your networks.

Happy to address any questions you may have.

All the best,

~ The OONI team.