Indonesia to ban children under 16 from social media

Indonesia will ban social media for children under age 16 starting at the end of March, the country’s Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said Friday.

In a video statement, Hafid said she had signed regulation that will mandate that kids can no longer hold accounts on a range of digital platforms, including TiKTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Threads.

“The government is stepping in so that parents no longer need to fight the algorithm giants alone,” Hafid said, according to a translation by Channel News Asia. “Our children face increasingly real digital threats. These range from exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and, most importantly, addiction… We believe this is the best step for the government to take in the midst of a digital emergency.”

Such restrictions have gained pace recently, with Australia instituting a ban in December, which it has hailed as a huge success.

Since then, governments in Spain, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have said they are studying such bans or plan to implement them. Indonesia is the first non-Western country to block children from social media. 

European parliamentarians have also been pushing for action. On February 27, lawmakers greenlit an opinion proposing that youth under 16 be banned from social media platforms without parental consent. Additionally, they said children below 13 should never be allowed on social media.

The European Parliament also passed a resolution asking the EU to set a threshold age for social media access in November. The body does not have the power to propose new laws, but can heavily influence the European Commission to take action.