Vimeo banned in Indonesia for allegedly hustling porn
The country’s anti-pornography law forbids any sort of nudity, something the government claims it found in roughly 15,000 videos on the streaming site.
Vimeo doesn't allow porn on its site, but it does let users upload "artistic" and "non-sexual nudity." However, in the eyes of the Indonesian government this is still pornography.
Indonesia announced Monday that it ordered all Internet service providers based in the county to block the video distribution and streaming site, according to the Associated Press.
The government said this decision was based on complaints received from Indonesian citizens and the fact that some Vimeo videos break the country's anti-pornography law. This strict law equates nudity to pornography and forbids any displays of skin found on websites or other media. In all, the government said it found about 15,000 videos tagged with words about nudity, according to the Associated Press.
Vimeo confirmed on Twitter that its site is being blocked in Indonesia. One tweet on Monday read, "It seems Vimeo is blocked for some Indonesian users, but it's on the Indonesian side and we can't unblock it," and another post on Tuesday said, "We have received an official request from the Indonesian government; we will look into the request and report back ASAP."
According to the Associated Press, the government has asked Vimeo to put stricter content filters on its videos in Indonesia -- something YouTube has done in the past.
Indonesia is known for not tolerating pornography, nudity, or even risqué dress. In 2012, the government said it "="" sites"="" shortcode="link" asset-type="article" uuid="72852dde-8c86-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d" slug="indonesia-shuts-down-1-million-porn-web-sites" link-text="blocked 1 million " section="news" title="Indonesia shuts down 1 million porn Web sites" edition="us" data-key="link_bulk_key" api="{"id":"72852dde-8c86-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d","slug":"indonesia-shuts-down-1-million-porn-web-sites","contentType":null,"edition":"us","topic":{"slug":"internet"},"metaData":{"typeTitle":null,"hubTopicPathString":"Internet","reviewType":null},"section":"news"}"> during the month of Ramadan.
While Indonesia has one of the world's largest Islamic populations, many of the country's citizens do not agree with the government's hardline stance. When the anti-pornography law was passed in 2008, many Indonesians took to the streets to protest. The Vimeo ban has also been decried by Indonesians on Facebook and Twitter.
When contacted by CNET, a Vimeo spokesperson said the company was working to clear up the issue.
"We received a letter of notification from the Republic of Indonesia's Minister of Communication and Information Technology requesting Vimeo block and/or remove pornographic material from being accessible in Indonesia on our site. We are looking into the matter and hope to resume service for the affected users," the Vimeo spokesperson said. "To clarify, Vimeo does allow nudity in some non-sexual and creative contexts, but doesn't allow pornography. We rely on our users to flag violating content for our moderators."
Update, May 15 at 6:15 a.m. PT: Adds comment from Vimeo spokesperson.