AFTER WHATSAPP THREAT, INDONESIA STEPS UP INTERNET OBSCENITY PURGE

Indonesia said on Tuesday it would summon representatives of messaging services and search engines, including Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google, to demand they remove obscene content, a day after threatening to shut down WhatsApp Messenger. The Internet is already partly censored in Indonesia, but the latest steps mark an escalation against a background of growing conservatism in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.

“They have to follow the rules of the host,” director general at Indonesia’s communication and informatics, Semuel Pangerapan, said of WhatsApp Messenger, which is widely used in Indonesia - prolifically by some ministers and bureaucrats. WhatsApp said on Monday that message encryption prevented it from monitoring the animated graphics files, known as GIFs, that are available on the app through third-party services.

WhatsApp said on Monday that message encryption prevented it from monitoring the animated graphics files, known as GIFs, that are available on the app through third-party services. It said it had asked the government instead to work with those providers, which integrate their technology into WhatsApp to allow users to enter keywords to search for GIFs.