Prabowo Mondardo, popularly known by his social media moniker "Bowo Alpenliebe," is a 13-year-old Indonesian pop star who became a sensation in Indonesia through a Chinese-developed music video app called Tik Tok.

Alpenliebe is very popular among teenage girls, one of whom wrote on Facebook that she would be "willing to sell her kidneys" to meet "Bowo."

Read more: Indonesia bans LGBT emoji despite Human Rights Watch concerns

Censors in Indonesia, however, are not amused by the app's popularity among pre-teens, and on Tuesday, the Indonesian Communications and Information Ministry temporarily blocked Tik Tok in the Muslim-majority country.

The information ministry issued a statement saying they decided to block the app after learning it contained "pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy." There are 10 million Tik Tok users in Indonesia.

The ban came after the communication ministry reportedly received more than 2,800 complaint letters about some of the user-generated content on the app. On Wednesday, Tik Tok visited with officials to discuss the block.

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'Filtering' content

The Indonesian minister of communication and informatics, Rudiantara, told DW that his office will ban this app until the management of Tik Tok fulfils their commitment to clean up the content:

"I just met the company team of Tik Tok who came from Beijing," said Rudiantara, who goes by one name as is common in Indonesia.

"We discussed the issue and I said to them, this ban is temporary and can be lifted after Tik Tok scrubs its content."

The minister said that Tik Tok would have to "clean negative and harmful content."

Additionally, the app would be required to filter the content of the app in Indonesia and provide easy access to customer service.

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia An inhumane Muslim king? Justifying its tough stance, Malaysia's National Censorship Board (or LPF) said the film's plot "gave a bad image about Islam through the role played by a (Muslim) sultan." "He is portrayed as a Sultan who is arrogant, cruel, inhumane, devious with all kinds of trickery, unreliable and who does not fully practice Islamic teachings," the nation's home ministry said in a statement.

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia Beloved crowd-pleasers Bollywood films are popular in Malaysia, where ethnic Indians make up around seven percent of the country's 32 million people. The government's move means many Malaysians may not be able to watch Padmaavat. But it is not the first film to succumb to the censors' scissors, as authorities have often cracked down on foreign movies that they claim to offend religious or cultural sensitivities.

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia Schindler's List (1993) Other films that failed to make the cut or were subject to heavy editing by Malaysian censors included Schindler's List, for reflecting "the privilege and the virtues of a certain race only." The ban was overturned later and a DVD version was released after several violent and nude scenes were cut, to the disgust of director Steven Spielberg.

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia Babe (1995) The film was initially banned because the adventures of its porcine protagonist affected the sensibilities of Malaysia's Muslim-majority population, for whom pigs are taboo. Furthermore the word "babe" sounds very much like the Malay word for pig, which is "babi." It was later approved for DVD release.

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia Daredevil (2003) Besides deeming the film as "too violent," government representatives were quoted as saying that the film might encourage youngsters to "hero worship someone with a devil-sounding name."

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia Zoolander (2001) Depicting Malaysia as impoverished and dependent upon sweatshops, this film was deemed "definitely unsuitable" by the censorship board. The film's plot, which also saw Ben Stiller's character, Derek Zoolander, being persuaded to assassinate the Malaysian prime minister, didn't sit well with the board either.

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia Bruce Almighty (2003) The film was banned following protests for featuring a human being (Morgan Freeman) as God, which is prohibited in Islam. It was eventually approved for DVD circulation. Its 2007 sequel "Evan Almighty" also courted controversy as it took a comic view of the biblical great flood and the Prophet Noah.

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia The Passion of the Christ (2004) Initially banned because of "religious sensitivities," another justification for censorship was that the film depicted prophets on-screen who are also mentioned in the Quran. It was later allowed to be released on DVD and was specifically labeled, "for Christian audiences only and private viewing."

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Sex, drugs and 506 mentions of the F-word, doesn't really make this a surprising ban candidate. It was produced by Red Granite Pictures, an American film finance and production company co-founded and chaired by Riza Aziz, stepson of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. The company is now the subject of probes into the 1MDB scandal.

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia Noah (2014) "It is un-Islamic for anyone to act out any portrayal of a prophet. If it is an issue to draw pictures of a prophet, why is a movie different? Of course this is prohibited, it is prohibited in Islam," the head of the LPF was reported to have said. Similar grounds were cited for the banning of Dreamworks' first animated musical, "The Prince of Egypt," in 1998.

'Padmaavat' joins list of banned films in Malaysia The Danish Girl (2015) While no official reason was cited in Malaysia for the banning of a film covering a gender reassignment operation, the decision was similar to those in other Muslim-majority countries like Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, where the story's "depravity" caused much protest. Author: Brenda Haas



More online censorship?

Indonesia has recently taken other measures to control online content after a rise in fake news and hate speech and amid controversial anti-pornography laws pushed by Islamic political parties.

When asked if the Tik Tok ban violates freedom of speech, Rudiantara answered that the Indonesian government respects human rights, but the problem is so many children or teenagers in Indonesia watch videos on the app.

"Gambling online, pornography or terrorism is not about freedom of speech. We have to anticipate the serious impact of it," said Rudiantara.

"Bigo, a popular livestreaming app, was also blocked, in 2016. The move was reversed once it sanitized its content. So there is no discrimination, we have to be fair," Rudiantara added.

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Blasphemy allegations – the new way of muzzling free speech in South Asia

Loved by pre-teens, hated by adults

According to The Jakarta Post, this app was originally called "Douyin" in China. Tik Tok was launched in 2016 by Zhang Yimin, the founder of the Beijing-based news and information platform Toutiao, one of China's fastest-growing tech startups.

Tik Tok was introduced to Indonesia in September 2017 by the tech company ByteDance Technology. The app allows its users to create short videos. Users who manage to generate hundreds of viewers and likes for their videos earn the title "muser" – a Tik Tok term for very popular users.

Popular among children and teenagers for its quirky videos, Tik Tok is resented by adults. Like other social media or apps, the popularity of Tik Tok has also given birth to a new social media celebrity culture.

Musers generate their own fame and charge their fans to meet them and take selfies.

'Bowo Alpenliebe' is an Indonesian social media star, with nearly 800,000 followers on Tik Tok

An Indonesian teen idol

Bowo Alpenliebe had more than 790,000 followers on his Tik Tok account before this app was blocked. He even organized a meet-and-greet event in Jakarta.

He charged fans 5 euros to participate in the event. Many parents reportedly complained because some children even stole money from them to meet their beloved star.

Some teenagers in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation have posted on social media that they'd rather worship "a new God" – namely Bowo.

Read more: Bali shuts down social media, shops, for 'Day of Silence'

Blasphemy allegations – the new way of muzzling free speech in South Asia

Other posts by young girls caused outrage. For instance, one post read, "It's okay for me to lose my virginity, as long as Bowo is the one" or "I am willing to sell my mom, for the sake to meet Bowo."

According to Tech Asia, Tik Tok has 150 million daily active users worldwide and has become a top-five-ranking app in the "video players and editors" category on Google Play in 70 countries.

This app is also the No. 1 overall Android application in Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, but ranks No. 4 in Indonesia.