REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Minister of Communication and Informatics Rudiantara receives CEO of social media platform Telegram Pavel Durov, who is visiting Jakarta to follow up the process of the mechanisms to handle negative contents as a requirement in the normalization of the application after previously being blocked by the Ministry.

"This meeting is held in order to follow up the Standard Operational Procedure in handling negative content," said the Minister, with Durov alongside him, in the Ministry buildings in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Pavel Durov and Minister Rudiantara arrived in the Ministry of Communication and Informatics building around 1:45 pm after having lunch together and the meeting is scheduled to take place from 2 to 3 pm.

The Ministry was previously reported to have blocked the web-based instant messaging application Telegram on July 14 due to the negative content that was circulating in it, especially regarding terrorism, that stray away from the state regulations that are applied in the country.

Prior to the blocking, the Ministry have reportedly emailed the Telegram offices regarding the handling procedures of negative contents, however, the Ministry did not receive any feedbacks so they decided to block the use of the application in the country.

Also read: BNPT expects Telegram to clarify its SOP related to terrorism content

The Telegram offices, who found out about the blocking through the media reports had then expressed their commitment to communicate with the Ministry regarding the dispute.

Minister Rudiantara welcomes Telegram's readiness to communicate and his Ministry stated that they await the response from the company to normalize the application back.

For that reason, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics intend to follow it up and one of the possible ways is through the establishment of a government channel, so that the communication between Telegram and the Ministry can be more speedy and efficient.

The Ministry had also asked to be the Trusted Flager and to be given authority towards the accounts and canals in the services of the application.

Telegram was also asked to establish a representative office in Indonesia.

The Ministry's Director General of Application and Informatics Samuel A Pangerapan believed that it would ease coordination between his office and the application, especially in handling negative content which include terrorism matters.

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