Indonesia has blocked access to Elon Musk’s X.com website over porn and gambling concerns, Aljazeera reported.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) said that the social media site, formerly known as Twitter, was restricted as the domain had previously been used by sites that disseminated pornography and gambling content.
This means that Indonesians apparently cannot access the platform, which reportedly has about 24 million users among a population of 270 million.
Indonesia has strict laws against negative content and websites, with the government actively blocking website domains that do not adhere to the country’s regulations.
According to Kominfo, the ministry has taken down 846,047 online gambling content between 2018 and Jul. 19 2023.
Usman Kansong, the director general of Kominfo, said that the government is in contact with X to clarify the nature of the site.
“We spoke with representatives from Twitter and they will send a letter to us to say that X.com will be used by Twitter,” Kansong told local media on Tuesday.
Risky rebranding
Musk earlier announced that Twitter will be renamed as X, representing his plans to create an “everything app”.
He defended the rebranding, saying that the Twitter name only made sense when the social media site just had a 140-character limit, “like birds tweeting”.
Twitter was acquired by X Corp both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the everything app. This is not simply a company renaming itself, but doing the same thing.
The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth – like…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2023
Musk also unveiled the company’s new logo: a white X on a black background.
Image via @X/Twitter.However, business analysts considered undoing years of branding behind Twitter’s blue bird risky, while marketing and branding experts said the move might compromise Twitter’s name recognition.
“Only a few brands have become verbs or seen themselves referred to in global news outlets as often as Twitter has,” Matt Rhodes, strategy lead at the creative agency House 337, told Reuters.
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Top image adapted from @X/Twitter and Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images.