In short. Website blocking in Indonesia is run by the ministry Komdigi, the list is called TRUST+Positif, and providers and operators must follow it. Any address can be checked in a minute at trustpositif.komdigi.go.id: "Ada" means blocked, "Tidak Ada" means open. As of 1 October 2026, telegram.org, whatsapp.com, instagram.com, youtube.com, reddit.com, x.com and discord.com work without a VPN. There is no separate ban on VPNs for private users in Komdigi documents, and a ministry unit itself mentions VPNs in its data protection leaflet; free services are paid for with your data, and all your traffic, including banking, goes through a VPN. A wrong block is lifted through the "Pengajuan Normalisasi" button on the same site. If Telegram is slow in Bali, Indonesia does not block it: check your network, roaming and VPN, with the order of steps in the section "If Telegram works badly".
Who blocks sites. Blocking in Indonesia is run by the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, Komdigi (until 2024 Kominfo). The list of blocked addresses is called TRUST+Positif, and internet providers and mobile operators must close access to the sites on it. According to material on the ministry's site, the list includes pornography, terrorism, incitement of discord and hatred, fraud, gambling, illegal sale of medicines and food, and copyright infringement. A site is blocked on a complaint or by decision of the ministry itself. If an address is on the list, it does not open either through home wifi or through a SIM card.
How to check a site. Open trustpositif.komdigi.go.id, click the field "Cari Data Pemblokiran Trustpositif" and type the address without http and without a slash at the end, for example vimeo.com. You can check up to five addresses at a time, each on a new line. The answer "Ada" means the site is on the list and blocked by decision of Komdigi. "Tidak Ada" means it is not on the list, and if it still does not open, the cause is something else: a fault at the provider, the site is down or it closed access to foreign addresses itself. That happens with some sites, and an Indonesian VPN rule has nothing to do with it.
What works and what is blocked. On 1 October 2026 we checked in TrustPositif the addresses people ask about most often. Not on the list and opening without a VPN: telegram.org, whatsapp.com, instagram.com, youtube.com, reddit.com, x.com, discord.com and archive.org. On the list is vimeo.com, so video from it will not open in Indonesia. Many sites with films and downloads that infringe copyright are blocked too, as are gambling and adult sites. The list changes, so before a long trip or a move check your own services.
If Telegram works badly. Telegram is not blocked in Indonesia: when we checked TrustPositif on 1 October 2026, the address telegram.org was not on the list. If messages and video load slowly, look for the cause step by step:
- Switch between Wi-Fi and mobile internet. If only one connection is slow, the problem is that network.
- If you are roaming on a foreign SIM card, try an Indonesian one: a Telkomsel tourist package is sold against a passport at the airport and in GraPARI shops, details in the guide to SIM cards.
- Turn off the VPN or choose a server closer to Indonesia: all traffic goes through the VPN server, and a distant server slows everything down.
- In Telegram open "Settings", then "Data and storage", then "Proxy" and check that the proxy is off if you did not set it up yourself.
- If it does not load for everyone around and on different networks, it is a fault of Telegram itself and you can only wait.
What the authorities have said about VPNs. We did not find a separate ban for private VPN users in Komdigi documents. On the contrary, the ministry unit BPT Komdigi in its 2022 data protection leaflet advises using a VPN to hide your address on the network from attackers. Free VPNs come under attack: in August 2024 the then minister Budi Arie Setiadi, according to Katadata, announced that they would be blocked because people use them to play banned gambling. The ministry did not disclose the names of the blocked services. The sites of paid VPNs we checked (nordvpn.com, protonvpn.com, expressvpn.com) were not on the list as of 1 October 2026. Remember that a VPN only changes the route to a site: what is banned by Indonesian law stays banned whichever country you connect through.
Free VPN and personal data. Someone pays for a free service, often with advertising and collecting user data. All your traffic passes through a VPN, including logging in to your bank and email, so choose a service with a clear owner and a paid subscription, and install apps only from the App Store and Google Play. If a free VPN stopped connecting, it may have been blocked by decision of Komdigi, and looking for the cause in your phone is pointless.
If a site was blocked by mistake. On the TrustPositif home page there is a "Pengajuan Normalisasi" button, through which the site owner or a user asks for the address to be removed from the list. A complaint about a dangerous site, for example a fraudulent one, can be sent to [email protected] with a link and a screenshot, the service phone is +62 21 3845786. On home internet and providers, see the guide to home internet.
What this means for you. Telegram, WhatsApp and most familiar services work in Bali without a VPN. If a site does not open, check it in TrustPositif in a minute: "Ada" means an Indonesian block, "Tidak Ada" means the cause is the provider or the site itself. Keep a paid, proven VPN: free ones can stop working any day and see all your data.