Ministry To Block More Unreliable News Portals: Official

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Communication and Informatic Ministry is set to block more unreliable news portals that are not in line with the existing Press Law, according to an official.

"There will be a joint move with the Press Council to block every website claiming to be a news portal, but not having a company name, structure, legal status and address, as demanded by the Press Law," Samuel A Pangerapan, Director General of Application and Informatic of the Communication and Informatic Ministry, said here, Wednesday.

The measure is necessary to prevent hoax or news that do not follow the journalistic code of ethics, he added.

If the public end up believing in fake news it could cause chaos, he remarked.

The ministry will form a team to identify the number of unreliable news portals. This number is around 40 thousand, according to the data provided by the Press Council.

News portals should apply for licenses and meet the necessary criteria like other media companies, he said.

Within two months, the ministry and the Press Council will introduce the conditions that are required to be recognized as a news portal.

The ministry, in December 2016, blocked 11 websites, namely voa-islam.com, nahimunkar.com, kiblat.net, bisyarah.com, dakwahtangerang.com, islampos.com, suaranews.com, izzamedia.com, gensyiah.com, muqawamah.com and abuzubair.net.

Operators of the websites had met Pangerapan, and four of them asked the ministry to normalize their websites, while one expressed his objection against the blocking.

The websites were blocked for allegedly distributing negative news. (WDY)