Indonesia Imposes Social Media Restrictions for Those Under 16 Years of Age

SadaNews - Indonesia began implementing a new government law today (Saturday) that was approved earlier this month, which prohibits children under the age of 16 from accessing digital platforms that may expose them to pornography, online bullying, fraud, and internet addiction.

With this move, Indonesia has become the first country in Southeast Asia to ban children from having accounts on platforms such as "YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Vigo Live, and Roblox."

This follows measures taken by Australia last year in what was the world’s first ban on social media for children, as part of a campaign for families to regain control from tech giants and protect their teenage children.

Indonesia stated that the implementation of the restrictions will be gradual until all platforms comply with this measure.

When announcing the new law earlier in March, Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Affairs, Muotya Hafiz, mentioned that it would apply to approximately 70 million children in Indonesia, which has a population of around 280 million people.