Jakarta. Vice President Jusuf Kalla has rejected calls to block the Internet search engine Google and video portal YouTube as a way to tackle the increase in sexual violence against children.

A senior official from the Indonesian Muslim Scholars Association (ICMI) attracted widespread ridicule and condemnation on social media after suggesting the government should ban Google and YouTube.

However, Kalla said most of the pornographic sites have been shut down, and it was not necessary to close block Google and YouTube because not all of their content promote pornography.

"YouTube and Google are not all pornographic. If they are shut down, the public can't view speeches or events," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday (08/06). "Pornographic websites have been shut down, but if Google [is shut down], give me a break. We find knowledge from there too."

ICMI said most sexual offenders use Google and YouTube as a source of inspiration, citing research that showed Indonesia accounted for the second-highest number of visitors to pornographic websites between 2010 and 2016.

ICMI secretary general Jafar Hafsah said Google and Google-owned YouTube are "responsible for spreading pornographic and violent content, with no control [by the government]."

"Google and YouTube's impact on Indonesians has been largely negative," he said.

Jafar did not seem to be aware that Google is a search engine that does not produce content, while YouTube has a strict policy against pornography and other explicit material.