The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) revealed that if the draft Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on Publisher Rights is passed, Indonesia will be the first country in Asia to regulate global digital platforms.
The country in the world that has implemented the publisher rights regulation is Australia. The Indonesian government has conducted a study in Australia regarding this regulation.
For information, publisher rights are regulations that regulate global digital platforms, such as Google to Facebook, to cooperate with the media, one of which is paying for news content.
"If we have regulations (publisher rights) later, it will be the second country after Australia. In Asia there are none, instead countries in Asia are peeking at Indonesia," said the Director General of Information and Public Communication (Dirjen IKP) of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, Usman Kansong at the Kominfo Building, Jakarta, Wednesday (15/2/2023).
Usman added that a number of countries in the world are also drafting similar rules to regulate digital platforms, such as Facebook and Google.
"So, there is a phenomenon in countries making models like this. In fact, the United States is exploring it," he said.
Usman leaked the outline of the Presidential Decree on Publisher Rights, which consisted of the substance of the obligation for digital platforms to cooperate with press companies to support quality journalism and implement the Presidential Decree.
"In formulating the Draft Presidential Decree, the Ministry of Communication and Information really took into account the principle of press freedom that Indonesia adheres to," he added.
As for the progress of this Perpres on Publisher Rights, said Usman, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics is speeding up discussing the regulation. Given that previously, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had given one month for the regulation to be ratified immediately.
The potential for the birth of new institutions/bodies that will implement the Perpres on Publisher Rights can occur. However, the existing institutions/agencies do not rule out the possibility.
Even so, it is still under discussion which is continuously being worked out by Kominfo together with the Press Council and other related parties.
"We'll see later, we'll discuss which one is the most ideal. Existing, there's a KPPU too. We can do it at the Press Council. So we can be comfortable together," he said.