🔍 Read the full analysis: What The Opposition To Indonesia’s AI Bill Could Mean For Copyright on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Google, Meta and TikTok raised objections at a Nov. 11 parliamentary hearing on Indonesia’s proposed copyright-law revision, which would address payments for news content and copyright rules for AI. The bill is still under deliberation, its current text was not available for review, and no vote date has been announced.
Meta and TikTok joined Google in challenging parts of Indonesia’s proposed copyright-law revision at a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on November 11, raising questions about how the draft would regulate AI training, news links and platform liability. The bill is not law, and its current text and path to a vote remain unclear.
The proposal revises Law No. 28 of 2014 and is being deliberated by parliament’s Legislation Body, known as Baleg, together with the government. Parliament approved it as an initiative on March 12, 2026. At the November hearing, lawmakers heard from Google, Meta, TikTok, the Press Council and Satu Lisensi Indonesia, according to Kompas.
The July draft described by Reuters would require platforms to compensate publishers for some forms of news use, including aggregation, republication and link previews. It also proposed rules for AI-generated and AI-assisted works, creator-style imitation, disclosure of AI use, and the use of copyrighted material for training. The draft reportedly contemplated fair-use provisions or licensing for training and possible sanctions for noncompliance. That July version is not the final text.
Google objected to payments for links and snippets, a single collective licensing body and mandatory licenses covering AI training data, according to accounts of the hearing. It argued that web-scale licensing would be impractical and proposed a text-and-data-mining exception with an opt-out. Meta said sharing a link is not republishing and argued payment duties could reduce publishers’ traffic and revenue. TikTok said disclosure rules should not cover cases where AI only assists a person, and also called for safe-harbor protection, according to the supplied reporting.
What opposition could mean for AI and copyright
Google, Meta and TikTok challenged parts of a proposed copyright-law revision at a November 11 hearing. The bill is still under discussion, and its current text is unclear.
What the platforms challenged
Their objections could shape rules for news distribution, AI training and liability.
Links and AI training
Opposed payments for links and snippets, a single licensing body, and mandatory AI training licenses.
Link sharing
Argued that sharing a link is not republication and that payment duties could reduce publisher traffic.
AI assistance
Said disclosure rules should not cover AI that only assists a person and called for safe-harbor protection.
Possible effects for publishers
The final rules could change both payments and the flow of readers to news sites.
- Payments could create a revenue channel when platforms use covered news content.
- Licensing could compensate creators or rights holders for protected works used in AI training.
- Platforms could reduce indexing, snippets or news distribution, cutting referrals.
- Licensing requirements could affect what material AI developers can use.
What remains unsettled
The July draft is not the final text, and the version discussed at the hearing was unavailable to the reporting source.
Baleg and the government continue deliberations; provisions may change.
The text may define training-data exceptions, opt-outs, human involvement and payment systems.
No parliamentary vote date has been announced.
How Rules Could Reshape AI Training
The debate could affect who can use copyrighted works to train AI and whether creators or publishers receive payment. If the final law requires licenses, AI developers may need to negotiate access to protected material or rely on exceptions the law defines. The bill’s approach could also shape the amount and type of Indonesian-language material available to train models, although the practical effects are not yet established.
For news publishers, payment obligations could create a new revenue channel if platforms use their reporting in the ways covered by the law. But the companies’ objections point to a possible countereffect: if platforms reduce indexing, snippets or distribution, publishers could lose referrals. Google’s representative reportedly warned that a levy on links could leave the company with “no choice” but to stop crawling, indexing and distributing Indonesian news. That is a company position, not a confirmed outcome.
The disagreement also concerns how copyright liability is assigned. Platforms want protection as intermediaries and a process for responding to infringement notices. Publishers and rights holders, meanwhile, have asked lawmakers to address the value platforms derive from news and other works. The final balance could affect creators, publishers, platforms and AI developers operating in Indonesia.
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From July Draft to November Hearing
The bill follows existing rules: Presidential Regulation No. 32 of 2024 requires digital platforms to support quality journalism. At the hearing, Press Council deputy chair Totok Suryanto said compliance had been low and the regulation had not worked as intended, according to Aktual. The Council also told lawmakers that platforms account for 80 percent of digital advertising and that traffic from platforms to news sites had fallen by as much as 70 percent. Those figures were presented by the Council; the supplied material does not provide the underlying methodology or period for the traffic comparison.
Reuters reported on the AI provisions in a July draft and quoted law ministry official Hermansyah Siregar as saying generative AI had disrupted the copyright framework. He described the draft as the first explicit recognition of AI in Indonesia’s copyright law, while stressing that it was not final. The draft reportedly distinguished between works with sufficient human involvement and fully AI-generated works, but did not specify how much human input would qualify.
At the November hearing, Google cited Articles 29 and 30 as requiring payment for indexing, aggregation, curation and news snippets, according to Suara. The full version under discussion was not available to the source reporting, and accounts cite different draft versions. Those article numbers and descriptions should be treated as provisional.
“A levy on links would leave Google with “no choice” but to stop crawling, indexing and distributing Indonesian news.”
— Google representative Agung Pamungkas, as reported by Reuters
Draft Text and Vote Still Open
The bill remains under discussion, and the complete text considered at the November hearing was not available to the reporting source. The July draft has since changed, while reports describe different versions. It is not yet clear which provisions on link payments, AI training, disclosure, style imitation, safe harbors or sanctions will remain in the version lawmakers advance.
No vote date was announced in the supplied material. The draft also leaves open practical questions, including what level of human involvement would qualify an AI-assisted work for copyright protection, how any training-data exception or opt-out would operate, and how payments would be collected and distributed. The companies’ stated concerns and the Press Council’s figures are attributed positions, not independent findings established here.
Lawmakers Continue Bill Deliberations
Baleg and the government are continuing deliberations on the revision. The next key development will be a more complete or updated draft that clarifies which provisions survived the discussions and how lawmakers respond to objections from technology companies and the Press Council. The supplied reporting gives no date for a parliamentary vote.
Until the text is published and lawmakers act on it, the proposals should not be treated as current legal obligations. Any assessment of their likely effect on publishers, creators or AI developers will depend on the final wording, implementation rules and how the provisions are enforced.
Key Questions
Has Indonesia passed the AI copyright bill?
No. The proposal is still being deliberated by parliament’s Legislation Body and the government. No vote date was announced in the supplied reporting.
What parts of the bill did the platforms oppose?
Google challenged payments for news links and snippets, a single collective licensing body and mandatory licensing for AI training. Meta disputed treating link sharing as republication, while TikTok objected to disclosure rules covering AI that only assists a person. The companies also sought intermediary or safe-harbor protections.
Would the bill require AI companies to license training data?
The July draft described by Reuters said use of copyrighted works for AI training would be subject to fair-use provisions or licensing agreements. The current draft was not available to the reporting source, so the final requirement is unknown.
Could the proposed rules change how Indonesian news appears online?
Potentially, depending on the final provisions and how platforms respond. Google warned that a levy on links could lead it to stop crawling, indexing and distributing Indonesian news, while the Press Council argued that platforms should compensate publishers. Neither a platform withdrawal nor a new payment system has been confirmed.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
