New Indonesia web system blocks 70,000 'negative' sites

Jakarta

INDONESIA has blocked more than 70,000 websites displaying "negative" content such as pornography or extremist ideology in the first month of using a new system to help purge the internet of harmful material, said its communications minister.

The world's most populous Muslim-majority country has stepped up efforts to control online content after a rise in hoax stories and hate speech, and amid controversial anti-pornography laws pushed by Islamic parties.