Bali tightens scrutiny of foreign content creators, prompting calls for clearer visa rules
Bali has tightened oversight of foreign nationals who engage in commercial activities while staying in Indonesia under visas that do not permit such activities.
A female tourist walks through the traditional Balinese Hindu Candi Bentar gate near Bedugul, Lake Bratan, Bali, Indonesia. (Photo: iStock/galitskaya)
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JAKARTA: Search for “Bali” on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok, and you get countless videos of foreign travellers lounging on its beaches, wandering through its rice terraces and sampling its famed cuisine.
And while many of those videos may have helped raise the island’s profile, some of these content creators are facing closer scrutiny by the authorities as Bali cracks down on foreigners who are suspected of engaging in commercial activities under tourist visas.
Indonesian authorities have established a special task force called Dharma Dewata to conduct patrols in areas with high concentrations of foreign nationals across Bali as part of efforts to tighten oversight into their activities.
“The primary objective of this policy is to minimise the misuse of residence permits, such as using holiday or tourist visas for employment or commercial purposes,” Felucia Sengky Ratna, the head of the Bali Regional Office of the Directorate General of Immigration, told CNA in a statement.
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Experts whom CNA spoke to broadly supported the move for stricter enforcement of immigration rules, but some said that the government needs to provide clearer guidance on the line between conducting commercial activities and the sharing of travel experiences online.
Content creators, meanwhile, are seeking greater clarity on the stricter measures even as they questioned the consistency of the policy’s implementation on the ground.
Between January and June 2026, the immigration directorate deported 342 foreign nationals from 60 countries.
They were sanctioned for a range of immigration violations, including overstaying their visas, misusing their residence permits, disrupting public order, and breaching other Indonesian laws and regulations.
When asked how many of those deported had been those who undertook commercial work illegally, the directorate told CNA that “the implementation of supervision is not specifically or narrowly focused on a particular professional designation, such as ‘content creator’”.
It added: “Our supervision is more directed at the general misuse of residence permits by foreign nationals while they are in Indonesian territory.”
According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, foreign nationals who plan to create content in Indonesia must obtain a Content Creator Visit Visa (C5A) that was introduced in May 2025.
The C5A visa allows holders to create content for their personal social media accounts, travel within Indonesia, and stay in the country as long as they have sufficient funds to support themselves.
However, they are not allowed to produce journalistic content or commercial films without special permission, work for local employers or earn income in Indonesia, or overstay their visas.
IMPORTANCE OF FOREIGN CONTENT CREATORS TO BALI
As more international tourists share their travels online, foreign content creators have become an increasingly influential force in promoting Indonesia’s tourism destinations like Bali.
Indonesian Tourism Scholars Association chairman Azril Azhari said content produced by overseas creators has helped introduce Bali, its local businesses and other domestic destinations to global audiences.
“Their content becomes a highly effective attraction without us having to spend money on promotional campaigns, especially when it is produced in English and other foreign languages,” Azril told CNA.
Tourism expert Taufan Rahmadi echoed that view, saying holiday decisions are increasingly shaped by recommendations on social media, making tourism promotion less reliant on official government campaigns.
“Many international tourists first become familiar with Bali through photos and videos produced by foreign content creators,” he said.
However, Taufan said that Bali’s enduring appeal extends far beyond social media.
“There are many factors behind Bali’s appeal, including its culture, natural beauty, local people’s hospitality, and the reputation Bali has built over the years,” said Taufan, a member of the tourism expert council at research institute Burhanuddin Abdullah Centre.
Taufan said tighter oversight of foreign content creators, as part of the enforcement of immigration rules on commercial activities, supports Indonesia’s push for quality tourism by strengthening the governance of these destinations.
“Monitoring commercial activities that do not comply with existing regulations is part of our effort to maintain a more orderly and professional tourism ecosystem,” said the expert.
Echoing that view, I Gusti Putu Bagus Sasrawan Mananda from Udayana University’s Faculty of Tourism in Bali said quality tourism should benefit local communities as well as attract higher-spending visitors.
“These issues are actually interconnected. The concept of quality tourism is not just about attracting high-spending tourists … Most importantly, it must deliver economic benefits to local communities,” Mananda said.
STEPPED UP ENFORCEMENT
Amid the growing volume of social media content produced by foreign creators, Bali Immigration has stepped up enforcement to ensure that any activity with commercial value is carried out under the appropriate visa.
Supported by the Dharma Dewata Task Force, authorities are conducting surveillance in areas across Bali with large foreign populations while also monitoring social media for early signs of suspected immigration violations. The measure aims to anticipate, detect and act on potential offences at an early stage.
“Any suspected violation will still go through an investigation, clarification, and further assessment based on evidence and facts established on the ground before any administrative action is imposed,” Felucia said.
Janet DeNeefe, an Australian who has lived in Bali for 42 years and owns several businesses on the island, said the crackdown on foreign content creators who misuse their visas is long overdue.
But she suggested that when it comes to enforcement, a line should be drawn on whether content creation involves financial gain.
“The crackdown needs to distinguish between genuine exploitation and genuine enthusiasm which is a harder line to draw than it sounds,” said the founder of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, one of Indonesia’s leading literary festivals located in Bali.
“If money is changing hands for the content, such as paid partnerships, sponsorships, monetised platforms, you must have the right visa, full stop.”
CALLS FOR CLEARER RULES
Still, the way Bali’s tighter scrutiny of foreign content creators is being implemented has been questioned by YouTuber Luke Martin of Chopstick Travel – a channel known for its gastronomy and cultural travel videos from around the world, including in Yogyakarta, Solo and Bandung.
He believes a distinction also has to be made between independent creators like himself and those working as part of a larger professional production.
One of Martin’s videos in Bali, titled “Indonesian Street Food-Crazy Bali Night Market” has garnered 627,000 views, while another video compiling 33 most famous Indonesian street foods has drawn 2.3 million views.
“We try to find businesses, like multi-generational restaurants that are a true representation of Indonesian or Balinese culture, and tell their stories through our videos. (That) is completely different than showing off some big hotel, five star brand luxury resort, beach club, something like that,” said Martin, whose channel boasts some 1.65 million subscribers.
He questioned the way Bali’s tighter scrutiny of foreign content creators is being implemented on the ground.
“I think the new rules are not clear on what is and isn’t allowed,” the 32-year-old Canadian told CNA.
Martin – who is based in his home country but travels often for his YouTube channel and has visited different regions in Indonesia – understands that barter arrangements, complimentary accommodation, or receiving products or expensive meals in exchange for promotional content are no longer permitted for foreign nationals who do not hold the appropriate visa.
However, he claims the rules remain unclear for foreign creators who are not paid by local businesses.
Martin said he finances his own content and earns income only through advertising automatically served by Google on YouTube.
“We actually support these businesses financially by buying their food, but not only that, by promoting them to millions of people online who will in turn go and spend more money at their restaurant without ever having charged anybody in Indonesia for anything,” he said.
“(But) I think that if you want to work with a local business (and) you’re benefiting as a foreign influencer, absolutely then I think you should be on the correct visa.”
Martin, who has more than 280,000 followers on Instagram, said content creator visa rules should distinguish between large commercial productions and independent creators.
“I do agree that large productions or very commercial style operations should probably be getting (the) proper visa, but that is a smaller percentage of YouTubers. A lot of them are much smaller or lower production value,” he said.
“Unfortunately, this blanket rule, though, applies to me and lots of other people who want to come to Indonesia.”
Martin believes that the extra paperwork could potentially deter independent creators from choosing Indonesia.
“When you’re just coming there to produce content and you’re spending your own money … and you have to deal with agencies and paperwork and you only get a single entry, I think (that’s) a lot more of a hassle that might make some people rethink whether they’re going to pick Indonesia as their destination,” he said.
WHAT LOCAL CONTENT CREATORS SAY
Putu Reza, a Bali-based content creator, acknowledged competition between foreign and local creators, saying some businesses work with foreign creators to reach international tourists.
However, the Indonesian said the playing field becomes uneven when foreigners undertake commercial work using visas that do not permit it.
Putu hoped consistent immigration enforcement would create fairer competition and encourage more businesses to work with local creators like himself.
“Local creators generally support fair competition rather than oppose the presence of foreign creators … as long as everyone complies with the applicable rules,” he told CNA.
Putu – who has more than 96,000 Instagram followers and also works as a tour guide – acknowledged that more businesses are recognising the value of local creators because “we have a deeper understanding of Bali’s stories, culture and context”.
Another Bali-based content creator Harival Zayuka shared that view, saying local creators often have a stronger grasp of storytelling of the island’s offerings as compared to their foreign counterparts.
“Indonesia has many high-quality creators who understand the destinations, culture, language and the characteristics of travellers,” said Harival, an Indonesian who has been creating travel content for the past 12 years.
However, Martin of Chopstick Travel does not see local and international creators as direct competitors.
“If the Indonesian creators are speaking Bahasa (Indonesia), then their audience is not going to be the same as the fitness influencer that’s speaking English or German,” he said.
“I just see it as two separate markets … So in a way, I think they complement each other – the foreign influencers and the Indonesian influencers.”
NEED FOR LONGER TERM APPROACH
Meanwhile, Azril from the Indonesian Tourism Scholars Association questioned the recent focus on foreign content creators, saying monitoring their digital activities is not the responsibility of immigration authorities, and becomes difficult when content is uploaded from overseas.
“Monitoring digital activities is the responsibility of Kemenkomdigi,” he said, referring to Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs.
“And what if creators upload their content only after returning to their home countries? How are we supposed to monitor content published from abroad?”
Instead, Azril argued the best way to prevent misuse of entry permits is to tighten Indonesia’s visa-free entry policy by applying the “principle of reciprocity”.
“In other words, if Indonesians can enter their country without a visa, then they should be able to enter ours under the same arrangement,” he said.
“That way, prevention begins from the outset, rather than after they have already entered Indonesia.”
Indonesia granted visa-free entry to around 169 countries before the COVID-19 pandemic, but reduced the number to 20 nations and special administrative regions in 2024, citing reciprocity, national security as well as economic and investment benefits.
But Azril argued that even that figure remains too high. “Let’s just limit it to 10 countries … The ones that contribute significantly in terms of numbers,” he said.
In the meantime, tourism expert Taufan called for a clearer framework to help professional content creators understand Indonesia’s legal requirements.
“Indonesia needs to provide a more friendly mechanism for professional content creators who want to collaborate with the tourism industry. There should be better public outreach and clearer guidance on the applicable regulations and legal requirements,” he said.
Taufan stressed that preventing future visa-related violations requires a long-term approach.
“The best solution is not only law enforcement but also preventive education for the entire ecosystem … so that there are clear regulations that are mutually understood, thereby reducing the potential for violations in the future.”
DeNeefe also said tighter scrutiny alone would not solve the issue, as Indonesian creators often lose out to foreign creators with large followings.
“Indonesian creators are hugely talented and often overlooked for foreign faces with bigger followings and that’s a market problem as much as a visa one,” she said.
“Stricter enforcement might redirect some budgets locally, but real capacity-building takes investment, not just tighter borders.”
Source: CNA/ps(as)
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