Jakarta. The government plans to cut off access to free virtual private network (VPN) services as part of a national crackdown on gambling websites, a senior official said on Wednesday.

While thousands of gambling websites, apps, and promotional content have been taken down in recent months, free VPN services still allow internet users to access websites based in foreign countries, said Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi.

“We will shut down free VPN services to restrict access to the network used by ordinary people to play online gambling," Budi said during a seminar titled Digital Transformation Indonesia at the Jakarta Convention Center.

According to him, online gambling has become a downside of the national digital transformation due to its negative effects on productivity.

"I have to say that online gambling has become the dark side of digitalization," Budi said.

The government needs support from players in the telecommunication industry to eradicate online gambling at its roots, Budi added.

"We face a tricky question about how to continue our digital transformation push while addressing all its consequences. There will be negative impacts that we have to tackle together," he said.