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If you’re in Indonesia and trying to view some lewd content on the Internet, it will most likely be blocked. Strict Internet content regulations have been an area of controversy for some time in the country, but a recent development has put a new spin – and a new face – on the fight against governmental censorship.

Ipo-chan is a moe anthropomorphism of the Indonesian Ministry of Communication’s web-filtering service, “Internet Postif”. She’s cute, she looks tough, and she’s becoming so much more than the embodiment of Internet police.

▼ “Don’t be immoral or I’ll block you!”

Ipo-chan is a parodic representation of the web-filtering service, which blocks any websites that the Indonesian government deems “inappropriate or immoral”. What started as censoring porn and gambling sites soon spread to banning social media sites, including the likes of video-sharing site Vimeo and Reddit (yet, according to one online commenter, illegal file sharing sites are still ten-a-penny and go unblocked). Understandably, the Indonesian public is not amused by Ipo-chan’s existence.

▼ You want to watch some porn? Ipo-chan thinks that’s “Gross!”

The character was originally thought up by Indonesian artist Rouzille Erzabalna after Indonesia’s Minster of Communication and Information – the head of Internet censorship – stepped down last year. In the months leading up to her big debut on Spring Roll in July, Erzabalna has developed Ipo-chan into a full-blown character, complete with a detailed profile.

▼ Included in her profile are her hobbies: Blocking websites, surveying netizen users, and browsing the web. 

“Ipo-chan
Age 20, Single
B-W-H: 84 -64 -89
Height: 157 cm
Weight: [This information is blocked by Internet Positif]
Hobbies: Blocking websites, surveillance on netizens, browsing the web

Personality:
– Tsundere but can be bullied
– Very sensitive, especially towards lewd content
– Disciplined and loyal to the Minister
– Messes up when blocking websites, which causes controversy among netizens

Things she likes:
– The Minister
– Educational Websites
Things she doesn’t like:
– Bad websites especially the lewd ones
– Manga, Hentai, Japanese Adult Videos
– Proxy
– Immoral and perverted netizens
– Hamster

Short Explanation:
Ipo-chan is a program created to filter negative websites. Ipo-chan began operating on July 26th, 2015, but after running for two weeks, Ipo-chan is surprised to discover a big phenomena that has happened to her…” [Translation from Know Your Meme]

As many adept net users know, there are ways around censoring systems such as Indonesia’s, such as proxies and VPNs, and Ipo-chan can’t really hold her ground against them – this explains that, while she’s tough and domineering on the outside, she’s easily “bullied”.

▼ Ipo-chan is no match for the tough guys like OpenDNS and proxies.

Yurukuyaru

Since Ipo-chan is so cute, she’s already gained a significant following in the past few weeks. Fan art is appearing everywhere and she even has her own dance video made with MMD, the 3D animation freeware program originally used to make Hatsune Miku.

▼ We wonder if this video is being blocked in Indonesia right now…

▼ Only a few weeks have passed since her debut and she already has fan art.

Yurukuyaru

We will no doubt be seeing more Ipo-chan fan art pop up soon, and maybe we’ll even see her at cosplay conventions around the world in the months to come. She’s cute and tough, but also a parody of a strict government initiative, so we’ll also be keeping an eye on how the ministry handles this adorable situation.

Source: Yarukuyaru, Know Your Meme
Images: Facebook/ Spring Roll Circle