Exploring Legal Dimensions: Analysis of the Role and Impact of Movie Censorship on Over-The-Top Streaming Platforms. Within this legal brief, we dissect the intricate legal framework that governs content oversight amidst the evolving landscape of OTT platforms, taking into account the specific norms and regulations in Indonesia. As the dynamics between creativity, regulation, and norms continue to unfold, the aim is to unravel the legal complexities influencing content governance in the digital age. Find out more our insights about this topic in our Legal Brief publication.

1. Legal Brief
Exploring the Relevance of Censorship in
Over-The-Top Streaming Platforms for Movies

2. IDEA OF APPLYING CENSORSHIP FOR MOVIES CONTAINED
IN OVER-THE-TOP
“There are scenes shown but categorized as prohibited by Indonesian standards, while for movies shown on
national TV, people smoking are censored and blurred.”
“The implementation of censorship on movies contained in OTT is to provide fairness. Thus, censorship not only
prevails on films shown on national TV.”
Usman Kansong - Directorate General of Information and Public Communication, Ministry of Communications and
Informatics
As of now, censorship provisions
prevail on movies, whether
broadcasted through cinemas,
televisions, or information
technology networks. The said
movies shall obtain a censorship
certificate prior to broadcasting.
Indonesian Film Censorship Institute
(“IFCI”) has the power and authority to
prevail censorship on movies
broadcasted through cinemas,
televisions, and information
technology.
Art. 30 (1) Jo. Art. 57 Law No. 33/2009.
APPLICABLE PROVISION FOR MOVIE CENSORSHIP
Art. 23 (1) Jo. Art. 41 (1) GR No. 18/2014
OTT is described as application and/or
content service via the internet under
the Minister of Communication and
Information Circular Letter No. 3/2016.
According to Art. 30 (1) Jo. Art. 57 Law
No. 33/2009 Jo. Art. 23 (1) Jo. Art. 41
(1) GR No. 18/2014, as mentioned
before, movies broadcasted through
the internet are not subject to
applicable provisions of movie
censorship and IFCI’s power and
authority. Therefore, the applicable
censorship provisions shall not prevail
over movies in OTT.
“Films may deliver negative impact if watched not according to age classification because films intended for adults
are unsuitable for children to watch.”
Roseri Rosdy Putri – Commission Secretary II, Indonesian Film Censorship Institute
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3. APPLICABLE MOVIE CENSORSHIP PROVISIONS FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
ON CENSORSHIP LEGAL NORMS OF MOVIE CONTAINED IN OTT 1/3
Movie aims to:
a. develop noble morals;
b. realize and develop an intelligent national life;
c. maintain national unity and integrity;
d. enhance national honor and dignity;
f. develop and preserve national culture;
g. introduce the national culture to the international community;
h. increase the national welfare; and
i. develop movies based on national culture.
Art. 3 Law No. 33/2009
a. encouraging the public to commit violence,
gambling, and drugs abuse;
b. featuring pornography;
c. provokes conflict between groups, tribes,
and/or races;
f. insulting, harassing, and/or tarnishing religious values;
g. encouraging public to violate the law; and
h. demeans human honor and dignity.
Art. 6 Law No. 33/2009
Movies shall obtain a censorship certificate prior to
broadcasting.
Art. 57 (1) Law No. 33/2009 Art. 57 (3) Law No. 33/2009
Censorship aims to protect the public from the negative
impact of movies.
Regarding plans to enact censorship on movies contained in Over-the-Top (“OTT”),
applicable movie censorship is relevant as a reference to provide an overview of
further censorship provisions for movies contained in OTT. Therefore, herewith is
the following applicable movie censorship provisions:
Movie is prohibited from containing the following element:
A H R P L e g a l B r i e f

4. APPLICABLE MOVIE CENSORSHIP PROVISIONS FOR FURTHER
REFERENCE ON CENSORSHIP LEGAL NORMS OF MOVIE CONTAINED IN
OTT 2/3
A movie is considered to contain a prohibited element according to the following
conditions (1/2):
Violence Element
Movie shall be considered to contain violence
elements if the following scenes appear:
a. brawls, beatings, torture, stabbings,
massacres, mutilations, violent and vicious
stabbings, and/or other similar scenes;
b. person or animal whose body parts are
bloody, mutilated, or in a deplorable
condition as a result of a violent or similar
scene;
c. graphic suicide scene in close-up shots;
and/or
d. excessive violence against animals in
close-up shots, whether by humans or
other animals.
Pornography Element
Movie shall be considered to contain pornography
elements if the following scenes appear:
a. nude scene, half body for women, entire body
for women and men, taken from the front, side,
or back;
b. visual, dialogue, and/or monologues depicting
graphic sexual acts and deviant or unnatural
sexual acts;
c. lips kissing that related to pornography acts;
d. close-up shots of specific body parts that
evoke pleasure;
e. body movements and/or erotic dance;
f. visual abortion;
g. rape visual;
h. dirty conversations and monologues;
i. sexual and obscene lyrics; and/or
j. use of contraceptives that do not meet their
intended function.
Art. 9 MoEC Reg. No. 14/2019
Art. 12 MoEC Reg. No. 14/2019
Movie shall be considered to contain gambling
elements if scenes regarding gambling and
gambling techniques excessively appear.
Gambling Element
Art. 10 MoEC Reg. No. 14/2019
A H R P L e g a l B r i e f

5. APPLICABLE MOVIE CENSORSHIP PROVISIONS FOR FURTHER
REFERENCE ON CENSORSHIP LEGAL NORMS OF MOVIE CONTAINED IN
OTT 3/3
Movie shall be considered to contain drug
abuse elements if scenes of drug abuse are
detailed, vulgar, easily imitated, and in close-
up shots.
Drug Abuse Element
Movie shall be considered to contain element of
discrimination related to ethnic, race, group, or class
if the movie is intended so by displaying:
Art. 11 MoEC Reg. No. 14/2019
Violence Element
a. content that insults or degrades any ethnic group,
race, group, or class, including humiliating men,
women, children, and people with disabilities;
b. content that may violate the norms of decorum
diversity and decency adhered by a particular
ethnicity, race, class, or group; and/or
c. content that may cause misunderstanding
between ethnic groups, races, groups, or groups.
Art. 13 MoEC Reg. No. 14/2019
Movie shall be considered to contain elements of insulting,
harassing, and/or tarnishing religious values if the entire
content of the film is deliberately aimed at destroying
religious harmony, ridiculing the sanctity of religions and
religious symbols, and/or degrading the sanctity of
religions and religious symbols.
Movie shall be considered to contain an element of
encouraging to violate the law if its entire content
intentionally aims to violate the ideology of the Republic of
Indonesia (Pancasila), the Constitution of the Republic of
Indonesia, the principle of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in
diversity), the unity of the Republic of Indonesia, national
symbols and/or legal regulations.
Element of Encouraging
to Violate the Law
Movie shall be considered to contain an element of
demeans human honor and dignity if its scenes,
dialogues, and monologues violate human rights
according to the law.
Element of Demeans
Human Honor and Dignity
Element of Insulting, Harassing,
and/or Tarnishing Religious Values
Art. 14 MoEC Reg. No. 14/2019
Art. 15 MoEC Reg. No. 14/2019
Art. 16 MoEC Reg. No. 14/2019
A Movie is Considered to Contain a Prohibited
Element According to The Following Conditions (2/2):
A H R P L e g a l B r i e f

6. LEGAL ACTIONS FOR CENSORSHIP OF MOVIES IN OTT - LITIGATION
Considering that regulations regarding censorship of movies contained in OTT have yet to be enacted,
if IFCI carries out actions related to censorship of movies in OTT, including but not limited to:
a. prohibiting the broadcasting of movies prior to obtaining a censorship certificate; and/or
b. declaring that such movies have not passed censorship,
an OTT provider may undertake legal action under administrative law procedures.
a. IFCI is a government institution; and
b. IFCI’s actions are considered administrative actions.
a. Filing an administrative objection within a maximum period of 21 (twenty-one) business days from the
date of the IFCI’s actions;
b. If IFCI rejects the administrative objection, thereafter may file an administrative appeal to the superior
official within a maximum period of 10 business days from the date of the rejection; and
c. If the superior official rejects the administrative appeal, thereafter may file an administrative lawsuit to
the State Administrative Court within a maximum period of 90 days from the date of the rejection.
Art. 77 Jo. Art. 78 Law No. 30/2014 Jo. Art. 5 (1) SC. Reg. No. 6/2018
a. IFCI does not have the power and authority to conduct actions related to the
censorship of movies in OTT; and
b. IFCI violates the general principles of good governance.
Procedures of Legal Remedies under Administrative Law
Legal Basis for The Above Legal Issues is Considered Administrative Law
Grounds of the Legal Remedies
Cause of Legal Actions
A H R P L e g a l B r i e f

7. APPLICABLE LAW RELATED TO THE
CONTENT OF THE MOVIE IN OTT
Although regulation regarding censorship of movies in OTT
has yet been enacted, other laws may apply to restrict the
content of movies in OTT, such as pornography law, as
regulated under Law No. 44/2008, which contains provisions
below.
Pornography is the use of images, sketches, illustrations,
photographs, text, audio, sound, video, animation, cartoons,
dialogue, gestures, or any other form of profanity or sexual
content that violates the law through various communication
media and/or public performances, which contains obscenity
or sexual exploitation that violate the norms of decency.
No one may produce, create, copy, reproduce, duplicate,
distribute, broadcast, import, export, offer, sell, rent, or provide
pornography that explicitly contains:
d. naked or appearance that gives an impression of being
naked;
e. sex organs; or
f. child pornography.
a. sexual intercourse, including deviate sexual intercourse;
b. sexual harassment;
c. masturbation;
01
02
Art. 4 (1) Law No. 44/2008
Art. 1 (1) Law No. 44/2008
03
04 According to Art. 4 (1) Jo. Art. 1 (1) Law No. 44/2008 above,
movies in OTT that contain pornography elements
potentially violate the law.
UPDATE
Netflix was reported to the police by customers
for broadcasting movies that contained
uncensored pornography.
https://nasional.okezone.com/read/2023/09/12/337/2881652/tayangk
an-pornografi-tanpa-sensor-netflix-dipolisikan-ke-polres-bekasi-kota
Source:
A H R P L e g a l B r i e f

8. WHY DOES MOVIE CENSORSHIP MATTER?
Film censorship involves investigating, evaluating, and determining whether films
and film advertising are suitable for public screening.
Censorship is to filter movies from containing content that violates Indonesia’s norms.
Moreover, in the globalization era, foreign movies may contain scenes that are not in
accordance with Indonesian morality, indecency, and cultural standards.
According to Leo Bogart, violent scenes tend to encourage young people to act
aggressively. Therefore, it describes that movies may influence bad behavior.
Referring to the precedent of crimes inspired by movies, censorship is necessary to
avoid encouraging bad behavior, especially for viewers who are categorized as
young adults because they are not yet mature enough to respond to information.
A
B
C
D
Art. 1 (9) Law No. 33/2009
A H R P L e g a l B r i e f

9. 01
02
03
04
CONCLUSION
The Government plans to enact censorship of movies in OTT. If the censorship of movies in OTT is
enacted, the further censorship norms are potentially in accordance with Law No. 33/2009, which
prohibits movies from containing elements of (a) drug abuse, (b) violence, (c) Insulting, Harassing,
and/or Tarnishing Religious Values, (d) pornography, (e) gambling, (f) encouraging to violate law, (g)
demeans human honor and dignity, and (h) insulting, harassing, and/or tarnishing religious values.
As of now, according to Art. 30 (1) Jo. Art. 57 Law No. 33/2009 Jo. Art. 23 (1) Jo. Art. 41
(1) GR No. 18/2014, IFCI does not have the power and authority to impose censorship
of movies in OTT. If the said imposition occurs, it potentially violates administrative law.
The objective and goals of censorship are to protect the public from the
negative impact of movies. Therefore, censorship is necessary to avoid
encouraging bad behavior. Especially for young adults who tend not to
be mature enough to respond to information. Accordingly, regulations
regarding censorship of movies in OTT shall be enacted.
Censorship of movies in OTT is crucial to be considered
upon preventing people to commit crime, especially movies
that contain violent.
05
Although regulations regarding censorship of movies in OTT have yet to be
enacted, other laws apply to restrict the content of movies, such as
pornography law, as regulated under Law No. 44/2008. In fact, there is a
precedent that Netflix’s customers filed a police report in connection with
pornography content included in movies on Netflix.
A H R P L e g a l B r i e f

10. We will continue to follow the developments on this topic and provide additional information as it becomes
available. If you have any questions on this topic, please contact:
This publication has been prepared by AHRP for educational and informational purposes only. The information contained in this publication is not
intended and should not be construed as legal advice. Due to the rapidly changing nature of law, AHRP makes no warranty or guarantee concerning
the accuracy or completeness of this content. You should consult with an attorney to review the current status of the law and how it applies to your
circumstances before deciding to take any action.
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