ID bans search engine DuckDuckGo over gambling, pornography concerns

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Indonesia has reportedly banned privacy-oriented search engine DuckDuckGo, citing concerns over pornography and online gambling.

Pornography and online gambling are illegal in Indonesia and the country, which has the world's biggest Muslim population, has strict rules that ban content that is deemed obscene.

DuckDuckGo joins social media platform Reddit and video-hosting platform Vimeo which are also blocked.

Don't miss: ID minister threatens to shut X down over adult content

In a statement to Reuters, communications ministry official Usman Kansong said that DuckDuckGo had been blocked because of the many complaints made to the ministry about the rampant online gambling and pornography content in its search results.

When MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out, a spokesperson from DuckDuckGo said "We can confirm that DuckDuckGo has been blocked in Indonesia due to their censorship policies. Unfortunately, there is no current path to being unblocked, similar to how we've been blocked in China for about a decade now."

The ministry did not say how DuckDuckGo differs from other search engines such as Google. However, DuckDuckGo said that it protects user privacy and their online activities.

"Unlike Chrome and other browsers, our browser comes with over a dozen powerful privacy protections built-in, including our search engine that replaces Google and doesn’t track your search history," said DuckDuckGo in a statement on their website.

Last year, Indonesian minister of communication and information Budi Arie Setiadi warned Meta to remove online gambling content from its platforms including Facebook and Instagram.

This included content that supports, facilitates or promotes online gambling or slot gambling activities.

The minister had previously sent a warning letter to Meta on 2 October 2023 but still found various kinds of gambling content on Meta’s platforms. He added that the matter would be taken up by law enforcement officials if there was no follow-up on the matter.

Photo courtesy of DuckDuckGo/Facebook

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