Leading social networking provider Facebook will open an office in Jakarta at the tip of this month as a part of the necessities for its operation in Indonesia, said Director General of Information Applications on the Ministry of Communications and Information Samuel Abrijani Pangerapan in Jakarta.
Samuel spoke after a gathering with Facebook officials Alvin Tan, head of public policy for Southeast Asia, and Jeff Wu, director of trust and security for Asia-Pacific. Minister of Communications and Information Rudiantara also attended the meeting.
“The office will be opened as a permanent business entity in South Jakarta,” Samuel said, as reported by kontaktan.co.id, adding that the opening of the office was one in all three agreements reached in the course of the meeting.
Facebook will even establish a particular business activity (KBLI) as required by existing regulations regarding the form of business Facebook conducts, Samuel said.
Facebook further expressed its commitment to combating prohibited content related to radicalism, terrorism and pornography, the official said.
Samuel added that Facebook will block all pornographic content for Indonesian users. “In other countries, there are several levels of pornographic content, but in Indonesia, all pornographic content is prohibited,” he added.
Over the past 12 months or two, Indonesian government officials have been venting their dissatisfaction with so-called “over-the-top” (OTT) giants, a term used to explain networks that deliver film and TV content over the Internet, as these platforms have been hesitant to establish everlasting businesses in Indonesia and subsequently paid little tax to the Indonesian government. In addition to Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Twitter were also involved within the project.
Instead of opening and recording transactions and revenues in a everlasting office in Indonesia, they preferred to proceed recording profits (partly originating in Indonesia) of their regional headquarters in Singapore, which meant that Indonesia lost tax revenues.
However, there have been more reasons for the importance of building a everlasting business entity in Indonesia. First, Facebook can be in a greater position to combat negative content and faux news (hoaxes), a problem that has change into a giant problem in Indonesia (and will even destabilize the country), while improving communication with the federal government.
Source and reference: Antaranews.com | Jakarta Post Office | Investors daily
