Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs is finalizing a policy study that would legally mandate international tech companies and digital platforms to establish local offices in the country, officials said on Friday.The regulation targets foreign “Electronic System Providers” (ESPs)—ranging from social media giants to cloud infrastructure firms—that maintain a massive user base in Southeast Asia's largest economy. The ongoing study will determine whether the local office requirement will be enforced through a sweeping government regulation, a ministerial decree, or updated licensing frameworks.”We hope to complete this study as soon as possible this year,” said Alexander Sabar, the ministry's director general of digital space supervision. “We are firmly urging them to establish local representative offices.”Under current Indonesian law, international digital platforms must register as private digital operators to legally tap into the country's booming digital economy. However, the government is now looking to tighten its grip by demanding a physical, onshore corporate presence.The policy shift is primarily aimed at accelerating content moderation and enforcing national laws.Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Meutya Hafid previously told parliament that a physical presence would eliminate communication bottlenecks between Jakarta and global tech headquarters.”We are considering this additional requirement so that international platforms can communicate more rapidly with the government, especially on urgent matters,” Hafid said during a legislative hearing.Indonesian regulators argue that local corporate offices will streamline the process for ordering rapid takedowns of illegal content, including online fraud, disinformation, and pornography, while providing better consumer protection for tens of millions of domestic users.