Indonesia began enforcing restrictions on social media accounts for children under 16 on Saturday, becoming the first country in Southeast Asia to adopt nationwide curbs as governments worldwide take a tougher approach to limit harmful online content.
The policy, influenced by Australia's landmark curbs, marks one of the most aggressive efforts yet to police how minors use digital platforms in the world's fourth-most populous nation. There has been mounting alarm over cyberbullying, pornography, online fraud and compulsive screen use in a country where social media has become deeply embedded in daily life and where about 70 million people are under the age of 16.
The new rules do not amount to an outright ban on all child accounts. Platforms deemed “high risk” —YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X and gaming platform Roblox among others — must prevent access to users under 16 including by removing or deactivating accounts.
Some lower-risk services can still be used by younger children, subject to tighter safeguards such as default high-privacy settings, parental controls and limits on location tracking and profiling.
X, Bigo Live, TikTok and Roblox are among the platforms that have made or announced changes to comply with the new policy as of late Friday, Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement. TikTok plans to gradually disable the accounts of under-16s while Roblox is adjusting features for under-13s, she said.
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X has said it would raise its minimum user age to 16, while Roblox has also said it plans to introduce additional content and communication controls for players under 16 in Indonesia.
YouTube Indonesia said Friday that it was aligned with the new regulation's risk-based self-assessment approach “as opposed to a blanket ban.”
Meta Platforms Inc. said it supported a “workable implementation” of the new rules and would continue talks with the communications ministry for its Facebook and Instagram. It added that since the rules passed last year, it had placed tens of millions of Indonesian youth on Facebook and Instagram into “teen accounts,” which it believes “provides a low risk experience under the regulation.”
TikTok didn't reply to a request for comment.
Indonesia moved ahead with the restrictions after citing concerns about widespread exposure among children to what officials described as harmful content. One UN-backed study in 2023 found that about half of Indonesian minors had encountered sexual images on social media, while nearly half reported experiencing online bullying — figures that have been frequently cited in discussions about tighter regulation.
Hafid, who has led the government's push on the policy, told Bloomberg News on Friday that all digital platforms operating in the country are required to meet the new standards.
“Protecting children is a shared responsibility, and compliance is essential for operating in Indonesia's digital ecosystem,” she said.
Failure to comply would expose companies to sanctions including potential restrictions on access in Indonesia. Companies also need to conduct child safety self-assessments by June.
Supporters of the rule change say it will give parents a long-sought tool to rein in children's internet use. Critics have called the changes simplistic and have said they deny children — especially those in more remote regions of the archipelago — channels for communication and self-expression.
“The focus should be on making digital spaces safer, not excluding children from them,” Amnesty International Executive Director Usman Hamid said in a statement.
Tagor Ricardo, a father of a 15-year-old and a 9-year-old in Jakarta, said he was waiting to see how the changes will be rolled out.
“The spirit is good, but we still need to see how it will be implemented,” Ricardo said, adding he didn't have a clear picture of how the policy would change social media use, but that “in general what children access will be more controlled.”
Indonesia's rules follow Australia's age restrictions, which took effect in December and require social media platforms to keep under-16s off their platforms or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($34 million). Policymakers in Denmark, Brazil and other nations are also moving to rein in Big Tech.
Neighboring Malaysia is planning similar restrictions, with Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil recently describing Indonesia's move as a “timely and positive step.”
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