Indonesia announced restrictions on access to social media for young people under 16 years of age

Following Australia and Malaysia, Indonesia is about to become another country to adopt legislation to restrict children ‘ s access to social media. However, unlike Australia’s “one-size-fits-all” policy of completely prohibiting the use of social media by users under 16 years of age, Indonesia has introduced age-based restrictions.

On Friday, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs of Indonesia indicated that access to social media platforms for children aged 13 and over would be postponed: children aged 13 and over could use a platform that the country had identified as “low-risk”, while the “high-risk” platform was open only to users over 16. In a video released by Instagram, Meutya Hafid, Minister of Communications and Digital Affairs of Indonesia, stated that the platforms identified as “high risk” included YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox. These measures are expected to be signed into law on 28 March 2026 and implemented one year later. In the past few months, several countries have announced plans to restrict access to social media for children and adolescents, including Denmark, Spain, France, Malaysia and the United States.

Indonesia stressed that the goal is not to discourage children from using the Internet, but to ensure that they use it in a safe manner and at an appropriate age. “This provision does not impose sanctions on children or parents. Instead, the sanctions target digital platforms that fail to meet child protection obligations, as indicated by Meutya Hafid. The rule is intended to protect against risk “from exposure to harmful content interacting with strangers to child exploitation and addiction to digital platforms”. According to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Services of Indonesia, there are approximately 299 million Internet users in Indonesia and nearly 80 per cent of children are active in using web platforms. The Government cited UNICEF data indicating that about half of Indonesian children had had contact with adult content on social media platforms, and 42 per cent of children acknowledged that those experiences had caused fear or anxiety.