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TL;DR
Google, Meta and TikTok raised objections to Indonesia’s proposed copyright-law revision at a parliamentary hearing on Nov. 11, 2026. The draft addresses payment for news links and previews, AI training on copyrighted works, creator protections and disclosure, but the current text is not publicly confirmed and the proposal has not become law.
Google, Meta and TikTok challenged parts of Indonesia’s proposed copyright-law revision at a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on November 11, raising concerns about payments for news links and previews, AI training licenses and platform liability. The bill remains under discussion, and the full text currently before lawmakers was not available for independent review.
The proposal would revise Indonesia’s Copyright Law, Law No. 28 of 2014. Parliament approved the revision as an initiative in a plenary session on March 12, 2026; it is now being deliberated by the Legislation Body, known as Baleg, together with the government. The November hearing included the three technology companies, the Press Council and Satu Lisensi Indonesia, according to Kompas.
Reuters reported on an earlier, July draft that would address AI-generated and AI-assisted work, including whether AI may imitate a creator’s distinctive style, when AI use must be disclosed, and how much human contribution would be needed for copyright protection. That version also proposed rules for using copyrighted works in AI training, as well as compensation when platforms aggregate, republish or display news, including in link previews. The draft has since changed, so those provisions should not be treated as confirmed wording in the text now under debate.
At the November hearing, Google objected to payments tied to links and snippets, a single collective licensing body, mandatory licenses for AI training data and the removal of platform safe-harbor protections, according to accounts by Suara and Kompas. Meta argued that sharing a link is not the same as republishing an article and said payment duties could reduce publishers’ traffic and revenue. TikTok said disclosure requirements should not cover cases in which AI only assists a person, and also argued for safe-harbor protections.
Why Big Tech Is Challenging Indonesia’s Proposed AI Copyright Bill
Google, Meta and TikTok challenged parts of a copyright-law revision at a November 11 parliamentary hearing. The proposal remains under debate, and its current text is not publicly confirmed.
What companies challenged
Their objections address how platforms distribute news and how AI systems use creative work.
Links and AI training
Objected to payments for links and previews, mandatory AI training licenses, a single licensing body and removal of safe-harbor protections.
Sharing is not republication
Said link sharing differs from republishing an article and payment duties could reduce publishers’ traffic and revenue.
Disclosure and liability
Argued disclosure should not cover cases where AI only assists a person and called for safe-harbor protections.
Who could be affected
The debate weighs compensation and control against access to news and AI development.
- Could gain compensation for news carried or surfaced by platforms.
- Copyright rules could shape control over creative works used in AI training.
- Payment or licensing duties could change how platforms distribute Indonesian journalism.
- Google said a link levy could leave it no choice but to stop distributing Indonesian news; this is its stated position, not an established outcome.
What remains unsettled
Reports describe different draft versions, and the full text currently before lawmakers was not available for independent review.
The current provisions on news links, AI training and platform liability are unconfirmed.
Rules for style imitation, disclosure and human contribution remain unclear.
Baleg and the government are considering the proposal; no vote date was identified.
Who Pays for News and AI Training
The dispute sits at the intersection of publisher revenue, public access to news and AI development. A requirement to pay for displaying links or previews could change how platforms distribute Indonesian journalism. Google told the hearing a levy would leave it “no choice” but to stop crawling, indexing and distributing Indonesian news, according to Reuters. That is the company’s stated position, not an established outcome; the bill has not been enacted and the effects would depend on its final terms and implementation.
For publishers, the proposed payments could create a new route to compensation from platforms that carry or surface their work. The Press Council offered a different account of the current balance: its deputy chair, Totok Suryanto, told lawmakers that platforms take 80 percent of digital advertising and that traffic from platforms to news sites has fallen by up to 70 percent, according to the source material’s account of the hearing. Those figures were presented by the council; the reporting supplied no measurement period or independent verification, so they should not be read as a settled estimate of the bill’s likely effect.
The AI provisions could also affect developers and creators beyond Indonesia if companies change how they source material for training or handle Indonesian-language content. Google says broad licensing requirements would be difficult to administer across large training datasets and proposes a text-and-data-mining exception with an opt-out, such as robots.txt. That is an industry argument, while creators’ ability to control use of their work and receive compensation is a central policy concern for lawmakers. The balance remains unsettled.
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A Revision Still Under Debate
The proposal builds on a policy framework already in place. Presidential Regulation No. 32 of 2024 requires digital platforms to support quality journalism. At the November hearing, Suryanto said compliance had been low and the regulation had not worked as intended, according to Aktual. The proposed copyright revision could add a different mechanism by setting out compensation or licensing duties in copyright law.
The July version reported by Reuters was described by law ministry intellectual-property official Hermansyah Siregar as authentic but not final. Reuters said it would exclude fully AI-generated works from protection while recognizing AI-assisted works if they met a human-involvement test; it did not define the required level of human input. That version also contemplated sanctions for noncompliance, potentially including revocation of local business permits. Because lawmakers are considering a later, changed draft, those details remain provisional.
Indonesia’s debate reflects a broader policy question: how copyright rules should apply when platforms distribute journalism and when AI systems learn from protected material. But the immediate issue is the Indonesian bill’s specific scope. The source material describes the November hearing and company positions; it does not establish that lawmakers have accepted or rejected any of them.
“A levy on links would leave Google “no choice” but to stop crawling, indexing and distributing Indonesian news.”
— Google representative Agung Pamungkas, as reported by Reuters
Key Provisions Are Not Settled
The full text under discussion on November 11 was not available in the source material, and reports cite different versions. Google referred to Articles 29 and 30 at the hearing, but those article numbers and their wording could not be independently checked against the current draft. The July provisions therefore offer background, not a definitive account of the bill as it stands.
It is also unclear how lawmakers might define human involvement in AI-assisted work, what counts as an AI use requiring disclosure, whether a text-and-data-mining exception or opt-out will be included, and how any licensing or collective-payment system would operate. The hearing reports establish the companies’ objections and the Press Council’s position; they do not show that the government or lawmakers have adopted those arguments.
No vote date was identified in the source material. The proposal remains under deliberation, and there is no confirmed final text, enacted rule or announced platform response to a law that has not yet passed.
Awaiting a Revised Draft and Vote
The next step is continued deliberation by Baleg and the government, including decisions about the bill’s wording and whether to revise the provisions raised at the hearing. A vote would follow only after the legislative process advances; the source material gives no date for one.
Readers should watch for publication of the current draft and for official statements clarifying how the bill would treat news links, AI training, creator-style imitation, disclosure, human contribution and platform liability. Until those details are available, company positions and descriptions of the July draft should remain clearly distinguished from the text lawmakers ultimately approve.
Key Questions
Has Indonesia passed the AI copyright bill?
No. The proposal is still being deliberated by parliament’s Legislation Body and the government. The source material identifies no vote date or enactment.
What are Google, Meta and TikTok objecting to?
The companies raised concerns about payments for news links and previews, platform liability and rules for AI training or disclosure. Their objections differ, and they are positions presented to lawmakers, not final decisions about the bill.
Would the bill require platforms to pay publishers for links?
An earlier draft reported by Reuters proposed compensation for some forms of news aggregation, republication and link-preview display. Google referred to payment provisions at the November hearing, but the current full text was not available, so the final scope is unclear.
What AI rules were described in the draft?
Reuters’ account of the July draft described proposed rules on AI-assisted work, disclosure, imitation of creators’ distinctive styles and the use of copyrighted material for training. The text has changed since then, and those details are not confirmed as the current wording.
When will lawmakers vote?
No vote date was announced in the source material. The bill remains under deliberation, and the next confirmed development would be an updated draft, an official timetable or a further parliamentary decision.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
