Elon Musk’s Twitter-Turned-X.com Blocked in Indonesia

SAN FRANCISCO—Twitter owner Elon Musk's sudden rebranding of the social media platform this week as "X" has hit a few snags. Musk said that the rebrand has nothing to do with a new strategic vision for the company; he simply owns the logo and chose it to represent the platform. However, Al Jazeera reports that the change has resulted in the Indonesia Ministry of Communication and Informatics blocking the domain X.com due to concerns that it is pornigraphic in nature or deals with gambling. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. Though the country’s laws guarantee religious and spiritual pluralism, the religious teachings of Islam and Sharia law have significant impacts on civil and non-religious legal codes based on local customs that vary by province. An analysis for Nikkei Asia published in 2022 highlights that the constitution requires a secular government in Indonesia. But, per the author of the analysis, Aisyah Llewellyn, laws that have been passed by the Indonesian House of Representatives are philosophically based on the values of “Shariah law, and Shariah is based on the Quran.” Like other Muslim-majority countries, online pornography is illegal and is often blocked on the web. According to Freedom House’s 2022 Freedom on the Net index, Indonesia’s internet is rated only “partly free” on a scale of 49 out of 100 (0 being least free, 100 being most free). The narrative on Indonesia’s profile on the index indicates that porn is the most common type of content that is blocked and censored. “Pornography remains the most commonly blocked category of content, with nearly 1.1 million sites blocked between August 2018 and July 2021,” reads the report. Porn is also loosely defined, in accordance with a 2008 anti-pornography law that censors other forms of art and expression on the internet. It should also be noted that some in Indonesia were already unable to access social media networks like Twitter due to the regulations that caught Musk’s X.com. X.com has always been Elon Musk’s dream brand name for an online service. He tried to rebrand PayPal to X but was out-maneuvered at the time by other executives. A spokesperson for the Communications Ministry told Al Jazeera that they have contacted X to resolve the issue and enable access for users.  Reactions from users on the platform have vastly ranged from a display of tepid acceptance to some mocking Musk and X chief executive officer Linda Yaccarino for the change. Adult entertainment industry personalities have criticized the use of X.com and told their followers of the uptick in shadowbanning NSFW accounts after Musk took control of the site last year. Rumors also circulated that platform moderators suspended an X account with the handle “@xvideos” because it sounded too similar. The account for the adult tube site XVideos, which is @xvideoscom, is still active. The tube site even joked that users can now use an X account to create an account on XVideos. “We have common interests” the site's social media team tweeted, tagging Elon Musk.