Jakarta, Eyewitness | Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Kemkomdigi) has issued a warning letter to YouTube, setting a three-day deadline for the platform to respond. This move follows an incident where a popular Indonesian content creator involved children in the promotion of vaping products during a live stream—an act that triggered a criminal investigation and calls from parliament for legal prosecution, and which marks the initial stage of an enforcement process that has previously resulted in total domestic blocks on services such as PayPal, Steam, and Yahoo.
July 28 Live Stream Involved Children in Nicotine Promotion
The incident stemmed from the actions of Muhammad Jannah, a content creator known by the alias “Bigmo” on his YouTube channel, @niceguymoo. During a live stream on July 28, 2026, Jannah visited a vendor of vaping liquids and interacted with several children present at the location; he invited them into the camera frame and allegedly directed them to help promote a specific brand of vaping liquid during the broadcast.
Clips of the video circulated widely on Indonesian social media in the days that followed. Jannah subsequently deleted the content and uploaded a public apology video; he admitted his actions were wrong and stated that he had been “carried away by the adrenaline” of the live stream. He also met with the children’s families and drafted a written document titled “Joint Settlement and Clarification Letter,” bearing the signatures of the guardians of the five children who appeared in the broadcast.
However, the amicable settlement reached with the families did not halt the ongoing official regulatory enforcement process. Jakarta Issues Warning with Three-Day Deadline
On Sunday, August 2, 2026, the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Kemkomdigi) officially issued a first warning letter to YouTube. The following day, Minister Meutya Hafid held a press conference at the ministry’s office in Jakarta, confirming that a summons had also been sent requiring YouTube management to appear and provide an explanation regarding their response.
The warning letter outlined three concrete demands:
YouTube is required to immediately review and remove—or take appropriate action against—the content in question, while also clarifying the measures it has taken and intends to take. The platform must strengthen its proactive content moderation systems to detect and address content that potentially violates child protection principles in the digital space, including the promotion of vaping. Furthermore, YouTube must improve its age verification and restriction mechanisms to prevent similar content from being created or disseminated to minors in the future.
“Children must be protected from all forms of exploitation in the digital space,” said Hafid. “Content involving children in the promotion of vape products clearly contravenes child protection principles and has no place on digital platforms.”
Hafid emphasized that the violation was twofold: the content breached both Indonesian law and YouTube’s own internal rules. “YouTube has clearly and demonstrably violated not only regulations established by the Indonesian state but also its own community guidelines,” she stated. YouTube’s policies prohibit the promotion of nicotine products, including content featuring minors using electronic cigarettes.
The ministry’s authority in this action extends to the platform itself, rather than individual content creators. “That falls within the purview of law enforcement agencies,” Hafid said regarding potential action against Jannah personally. “The ministry’s responsibility lies with the platform.” Indonesian Legal Requirements and How YouTube Could Be Blocked
This warning letter was issued pursuant to Ministerial Regulation Number 5 of 2020 (PM 5/2020), the Indonesian legal framework governing private-sector electronic system providers a category that includes international platforms like YouTube operating within Indonesia. The regulation establishes a tiered system of administrative sanctions: an initial warning letter followed in the absence of a resolution by subsequent written warnings, financial penalties, temporary service suspension, and, as a final measure, a total block on platform access in Indonesia.
This is not merely a theoretical threat. In July 2022, Kominfo (the ministry prior to its restructuring) temporarily blocked PayPal, Steam, and Yahoo after those platforms failed to register.
…in accordance with Regulation PM 5/2020. Access to all those platforms was restored within days after they met the requirements. The strictness of this regulation is evident, and the government has demonstrated its readiness to enforce it against platforms with user bases in Indonesia far larger than those of the platforms blocked in 2022.
“The government prioritizes guidance and compliance,” said Hafid. “However, if platforms fail to meet their obligations to moderate content that violates the rules, we will not hesitate to enforce the applicable regulations,” she concluded.
