Indonesia Bans Social Media for Children Under 16
Indonesia has signed into law sweeping restrictions barring children under the age of 16 from holding accounts on a broad range of digital platforms, making it the first country in south-east Asia to take such a step and the latest in a growing line of governments worldwide to move aggressively against the social media industry over child safety.
Meutya Hafid, the country's minister of communication and digital affairs, announced on Friday that she had signed the government regulation, which covers YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Roblox and Bigo Live, a widely used livestreaming service. Implementation will begin on a graduated basis from 28 March, giving platforms time to fulfil their compliance obligations.
"The basis is clear. Our children face increasingly real threats. From exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud, and most addiction. The government is here so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giant of algorithms," Hafid said in a statement to media.
The minister framed the measure in stark terms, describing the government's intervention as its best effort "in the midst of a digital emergency to reclaim sovereignty over children's futures." She acknowledged that the transition would not be seamless. "We realize that the implementation of this regulation may cause some discomfort at first. Children may complain and parents may be confused about how to respond to their children's complaints," she added.
A Market of Global Significance
The scale of the decision should not be underestimated. Indonesia is home to roughly 285 million people, the fourth-largest population in the world, making it a substantial and commercially important market for global social networks. Any meaningful enforcement of the ban would represent a significant operational challenge for the platforms affected and a material reduction in their accessible user base in the region.
TikTok and Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The announcement came only days after Indonesia's ministry of communication and digital affairs conducted a surprise inspection of Meta's Jakarta office, issuing what the ministry described as a stern warning over the company's low level of compliance with national regulations, specifically around harmful content on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
A Growing Global Movement
Indonesia's move places it alongside a cohort of countries grappling with how to regulate children's access to social media. Australia introduced its own world-first ban on under-16s in December 2025, and social media companies have since revoked access to approximately 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children in that country. Spain, France and the United Kingdom are also either implementing or actively considering similar restrictions.
The pattern reflects a widening consensus among governments that the social media industry has not done enough to self-regulate, and that state intervention is necessary to shield minors from what regulators characterise as structural harms embedded in the design of these platforms.
Public Reception
Residents in the Indonesian capital Jakarta offered broadly supportive reactions to the announcement, though some argued the government should extend its scrutiny further. Marianah, a 43-year-old Jakarta resident who, like many Indonesians, uses a single name, welcomed the restrictions, saying children had been given too much unsupervised access to content that was at times harmful or misleading.
Harianto, a 49-year-old Jakarta resident, echoed that support but pressed the government to go further. "As parents, we hope that online gambling and pornography websites can also be removed. So, in a sense, the government must also be fair. This is for the sake of the people themselves, for the children, and for the children's growth and development," he said.
The calls to address online gambling and pornography alongside social media suggest that public appetite for digital regulation in Indonesia may extend well beyond what Friday's announcement covers, and could inform future policy action by the Hafid-led ministry.
