Indonesia, the fourth largest cigarette producer in the world, will take action against online tobacco advertising aimed at young smokers, Reuters reported.

The Minister of Communications and Information, Rudiantara, has confirmed that he has instructed his team to block all online cigarette advertising after the Health Minister sought the ban. “We hope by blocking cigarette advertisements on the internet we can reduce the smoking prevalence, especially among children,” Health Minister, Nila Moelek, was quoted as saying.
Indonesia, which is famous for its “kretek” or clove cigarettes, already has nationwide restrictions on cigarette advertising, including a ban on sponsorship of tobacco products, but it is not consistently enforced by regional authorities, the report said. Health groups say that more young people are smoking in Indonesia. Survey data showed that the smoking prevalence of young people aged 10 to 18 had increased to 9.1 per cent last year from 7.2 per cent in 2013.
According to the World Health Organization, in 2017, about two-thirds of Indonesian men smoked tobacco daily, and more than 21 per cent of boys between 13 and 15 smoked cigarettes regularly.