- Limiting news available online: The regulation may favor a limited set of news publishers and impose restrictions on our ability to surface diverse information from the remaining thousands of publishers across Indonesia, including hundreds of small publishers grouped under the Serikat Media Siber Indonesia (SMSI). This would impact Indonesians seeking to find a plurality of opinions online, and could ultimately mean they will find less impartial, and less relevant information.
- Putting many of the media and news creators in jeopardy, despite them being a key source for Indonesians to stay informed. While this regulation was initially proposed with the stated goal of supporting a healthy news industry, the current draft would be detrimental to a vast number of publishers and creators who are transforming and innovating. New powers granted to a single, non-government body, formed by and including representatives of Dewan Pers, will only benefit a select number of traditional publishers by limiting which content can be shown on our platforms.
Google and YouTube have long supported the growth of Indonesia’s digital news ecosystem and we want to continue to do so. Indeed, we do not show ads or make any money on Google News. In fact, in 2022, Google sent more than one billion visits to Indonesian news organizations per month – at no charge – helping them make money with ads and new subscriptions.
For years we have invested in efforts to support news publishers, empowering them to build a sustainable future for their business through our programs, partnerships and products. Since 2019, we have made significant funding commitments to train nearly 1,000 Indonesian news publishers through our Local News Foundry and Digital Growth Programs.
We have provided digital skills training to more than 36,900 journalists and journalism students in 568 newsrooms and 175 universities across Indonesia since 2018. We have also partnered with and funded CekFakta to help them establish a network of 59 newsrooms fighting misinformation and promoting digital literacy.