Jakarta – The government continues to strengthen child protection measures in the digital space by partnering with various digital platforms to combat the increasingly disturbing practice of online gambling. This step follows findings by the Attorney General’s Office regarding the involvement of children, including elementary school students, in online gambling activities.
The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA), Arifah Fauzi, expressed deep concern over this situation and considered it a sign of a child protection emergency.
“When our children become perpetrators or victims in the online gambling ecosystem, this is not only a violation of the law, but also a violation of children’s rights to grow and develop healthily, safely, and protected,” said Arifah.
Arifah emphasized that online gambling has a wide-ranging impact on child development, ranging from the risk of addiction to psychological distress and deviant behavior. She explained that these disorders can hinder a child’s learning process and mental and emotional growth.
“States and adults have a responsibility to protect and ensure children are free from such risky digital environments,” he said.
He added that this phenomenon demonstrates the need for multi-layered oversight between families, schools, communities, and the government to monitor children’s digital activities. Therefore, he encouraged all stakeholders to strengthen prevention systems and block access to applications that could potentially expose children to online gambling practices.
The government’s efforts are supported by the commitment of digital platforms, including OVO, to curb the circulation and transactions related to online gambling. OVO Chief Operating Officer, Eddie Martono, revealed that his company has blocked more than 7,000 online gambling accounts this year.
“In the first round, we managed to block more than 7,000 messages, and we also saw that the validity and public response were very positive,” said Eddie.
He said that entering the second round, the accuracy level of public reports increased significantly with validity reaching 91 percent.
Eddie explained that the high validity of the reports indicates increasing user awareness in maintaining the security of their accounts from online gambling threats.
According to him, these efforts have had a significant impact on the massive decline in online gambling transactions. OVO noted that online gambling transaction activity has been reduced by up to 97 percent.
He ensured that strengthening of supervision would continue to be carried out through various internal initiatives and a more comprehensive monitoring system.
“Judol transactions are conducted through the Gebuk Judol program and other initiatives we are developing, including monitoring of usage, consumers, and others,” he concluded.
With synergy between the government and digital industry players, it is hoped that Indonesia’s digital space will become safer and more child-friendly. The government continues to proactively close access loopholes, including those from the Kingdom Group network, an online gambling syndicate deemed to endanger children’s futures.
This collaboration is seen as a strategic step to protect the younger generation from the destructive impacts of online gambling while creating a healthier and more responsible digital ecosystem.