Indonesian authorities to crack down on ‘abusive’ tweeters

Twitter’s decision to censor tweets on a country by country basis caused widespread outcry. For the government of Indonesia, however, such measures may not be enough.

Authorities in the South East Asian country claim they are “studying” Twitter with a view to cracking down on users who “behave badly” on the social network.

The crackdown is the brainchild of communications minister Tifatul Sembiring. According to Indonesian newspaper the Jakarta Globe, Sembiring said that if offenders “really violate [laws] and insult people, they could be reported as spam. Then their [accounts] could be closed by Twitter officials.”

The minister claims that the measures are aimed primarily at stopping people who use anonymous accounts to insult other people.

The laws will reportedly apply to anyone who is found to have disturbed the public or insulted public figures.

“If they violate the laws, they will be punished. Principally, every account user could be held responsible by tracing his position and device,” Sembiring added.

The punishment for violating Indonesia’s online laws can be harsh with prison sentences of between seven and 12 years doled out to anyone found guilty of pornography, gambling, threats, fraud or blasphemy.

Given the country’s predilection for social media — it is the third most populous Facebook nation on earth — however, it is unclear how the government intends to monitor and act on the large number of tweets sent every day.

Whatever course of action Indonesian authorities choose to take it will not be as simple as its previous move to block its 55-million plus internet population from viewing nearly one-million pornographic sites.