Indonesia begins social media ban for children under 16

eenagers use their mobile phones to browse social media in Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 16.

Photo: AP Indonesia on Saturday began implementing a new government regulation approved earlier this month that bans children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction.

With the move, Indonesia became the first country in Southeast Asia to ban children from having accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox.

It follows measures that Australia took last year in a world-first social media ban for children as part of a push for families to take back power from tech giants and protect their teens.

Indonesia has said that the implementation of the restrictions would be carried out gradually, until all platforms comply with the measure. “The government has instructed all digital platforms operating in Indonesia to immediately bring their products, features and services into compliance with applicable regulations.

There will be no compromise on compliance, and every business entity operating in Indonesia is required to comply with Indonesian law,” Indonesia’s Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said on Friday evening.

In announcing the new regulation earlier in March, she said this regulation would apply to around 70 million children in Indonesia – a country with a population of about 280 million.

Indonesian Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Meutya Hafid says every business entity operating in Indonesia is required to comply with the new social media measure.

Photo: EPA According to Meutya, high-risk digital platforms are identified by factors such as how easy it is for children to become exposed to strangers, potential predators and harmful content in general, as well as the levels of risk of exploitation and data security scams.

But she acknowledged that implementing the new regulation – even gradually as planned – will be difficult.

Getting digital platforms to comply and then making them report deactivations of under-16 accounts is difficult. “This is certainly a task.

But we must take steps to save our children,” Hafid said. “It’s not easy.

Nevertheless, we must see it through.” Maura Munthe, a 13-year-old who spends roughly four hours a day on her phone on social media, including playing games on Roblox with her friends, said she felt “kind of 50-50” about the new government policy but mostly agreed

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