Indonesia Wants to Erase LGBTQ+ People from the Internet

Indonesia’s parliament is debating a bill that would effectively erase LGBTQ+ people from the country’s internet. The proposed amendment to Indonesia’s broadcasting law would extend the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission’s censorship authority to cover social media, streaming platforms, and online video — banning what the bill describes as LGBTQ+ “behaviour” and “negative behaviour or lifestyles that potentially harm the public.”

If passed, the law would apply the same content restrictions currently governing television and radio to platforms like YouTube (140 million users in Indonesia), TikTok (125 million users), Netflix, and every other digital platform operating in the country. Violations could result in fines and license revocations.

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country, with 265 million internet users. This isn’t a marginal policy — it’s an attempt at digital erasure at massive scale.

What the Bill Actually Does

The broadcasting bill amendment, first introduced in 2024, was initially rejected following public backlash. Lawmakers reintroduced it in 2025, and it remains under active debate in parliament as of early 2026.

The bill would expand the broadcasting regulator’s jurisdiction beyond traditional broadcast media to encompass all digital content platforms. For LGBTQ+ Indonesians, the practical effect would be sweeping: educational content about sexual orientation and gender identity could be banned. LGBTQ+ creators on YouTube and TikTok could be deplatformed within Indonesia. News coverage of LGBTQ+ rights — including international stories — could be censored. Support communities, health resources, and advocacy organizations could lose their online presence.

The bill’s language is deliberately broad, targeting “lifestyles that potentially harm the public” — a framing that gives regulators essentially unlimited discretion to censor any content featuring or supporting LGBTQ+ people.

The Compounding Effect

This bill doesn’t exist in isolation. Since January 2, 2025, Indonesia’s revised criminal code has criminalized sex outside of marriage, punishable by up to a year in prison. Because same-sex marriage is not recognized in Indonesia, this effectively criminalizes all same-sex relations.

The combination is severe: the criminal code targets LGBTQ+ people’s private lives, while the broadcasting bill would target their public existence online. Together, they amount to a comprehensive effort to push LGBTQ+ Indonesians out of both physical and digital public life.

Activists report that online violence and harassment against LGBTQ+ Indonesians has already been rising for years. Anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation campaigns on social media have intensified, often framed in religious or child-protection language. The proposed bill would formalize and amplify this dynamic by giving the state direct censorship tools.

Why This Matters Beyond Indonesia

Indonesia is a democracy. It’s the world’s largest Muslim-majority country. It’s a G20 member and a major economic power in Southeast Asia. When a country of this size and influence moves to ban LGBTQ+ content online, it creates a template that other governments in the region can follow.

The bill also raises fundamental questions about digital rights and platform governance. International tech companies operating in Indonesia — Google, Meta, ByteDance, Netflix — would face pressure to comply with content removal orders or risk losing access to one of the world’s largest digital markets. How these companies respond will set precedents far beyond Indonesia’s borders.

For LGBTQ+ Indonesians, online spaces have often been the only spaces where community, information, and support are accessible. In a country where public displays of LGBTQ+ identity can be dangerous and where no legal protections exist, the internet has been a lifeline. Cutting that lifeline isn’t content regulation — it’s an act of isolation.

The Human Cost

Indonesia has no anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people. Same-sex relationships have no legal recognition. Conversion therapy is practiced without restriction. In Aceh province, Sharia law criminalizes homosexuality with up to 100 lashes of public caning.

Against this backdrop, the internet has served as a critical space for LGBTQ+ Indonesians to find community, access health information — particularly around HIV prevention and treatment — and connect with support networks. LGBTQ+ content creators have built audiences and visibility that would be impossible in traditional Indonesian media.

The broadcasting bill would close that window.

It’s worth being precise about what’s happening here. This isn’t a content moderation policy. It’s not about protecting children from inappropriate material, despite the rhetoric. It’s an attempt to make LGBTQ+ existence invisible in the digital public square of a nation of 280 million people.

What Happens Next

The bill’s timeline remains uncertain. Its 2024 introduction was met with enough public opposition to delay it, and the reintroduction has generated renewed pushback from digital rights organizations, press freedom advocates, and LGBTQ+ groups both within Indonesia and internationally.

International pressure matters here. Indonesia is sensitive to its global reputation, particularly as it seeks greater economic integration with Western markets. Human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Outright International, have called on Indonesian lawmakers to abandon the bill.

But the political incentives cut the other way. Anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment polls well in Indonesian politics, and the bill’s proponents frame it as a defense of traditional values and child safety — a framing that resonates in a socially conservative society.

The outcome of this legislative battle will determine whether 265 million internet users in the world’s third-largest democracy can access information about, by, and for LGBTQ+ people. The stakes don’t get much higher than that.