Indonesia, a land of over 270 million people and known for its beautiful beaches and spicy food, is on the news for pulling the plug on DuckDuckGo, a U.S.-based privacy-focused search engine.

DuckDuckGo has long been praised for its commitment to user privacy, making it a popular choice for those concerned about their digital footprint. Unlike many other search engines, it doesn’t track users or create personalized profiles.

Apparently, the Indonesian government is really worried that people could use the search engine to access pornography and online gambling websites – which are by the way illegal in the country.

While it seems fair to protect people from things that can be harmful to them, banning an entire search engine feels like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Hello, VPN!

Despite the country cracking down on websites that promote adult content and online gambling, government data showed 3 million Indonesians went online to gamble last year, spending an estimated $20 billion, per Reuters.

Indonesia plans to ban e-commerce transactions on social media

A new regulation in Indonesia could ban e-commerce transactions on social media. For a country with a population of 270 million population and a flourishing e-commerce sector, which recorded nearly $52 billion in e-commerce transactions in 2022, and a significant portion of this realized from social commerce, this could deal

But DuckDuckGo isn’t the only website the country has banned. Social media platform Reddit and video-hosting platform Vimeo have also been blocked for similar reasons. Yet, one wonders how DuckDuckGo differs from other search engines such as Google that are still available in the country.

While governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens from harmful content, excessive censorship can indeed stifle innovation and restrict access to knowledge and freedom of information.