Indonesia is urging an online messaging app used in smartphones to remove their LGBT emoticons.
According to TIME, Indonesian officials ordered that the app, Line, remove their digital stickers which depicts same-sex couples from their collection on Thursday. Information and Communication Ministry spokesperson Ismail Cawidu said that any digital platforms like social media and messaging apps should get rid of the emoticons that encourages the LGBT community in Indonesia to mirror the country’s conservative culture.
“Social media must respect the culture and local wisdom of the country where they have large numbers of users,” Ismail said.
Line said they removed the gay-themed stickers on Tuesday, on the heels of receiving criticisms on Twitter and Facebook.
While Homosexuality is legal, it is not commonly accepted in Indonesia, where people and the culture are more adaptive than authorities. Ismail added that the government would urge fellow messaging app, WhatsApp, to take down the stickers as well.
The country also faced backlash last month following the controversial statement made by Muhammad Nasir, a Research, Technology and Higher Educaion Minister.
According to Herald Courier, he said that gay students must be banned inside the campuses of University of Indonesia.
Nasir’s comment sparked controversy in Indonesia for weeks, raising objections from human rights groups.
Meanwhile, LINE Thailand has announced yesterday its “LINE Beyond Chat” – a new strategy which aims to introduce new services for both consumers and businesses.
"LINE aims to become O2O service leader by becoming a platform and scaling up its existing services such as LINE TV, LINE Music and Giftshop by launching new localised services for Thailand," managing director Ariya Banomyong said according to The Nation.
In the US, same-sex couple emojis have been used for years while Apple added same-sex families to its digital collection in recent months.
WhatsApp has yet to comment whether they will also remove their LGBT-themed stickers in Indonesia.
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