Indonesia Bans Social Media for Children Under 16: Southeast Asia First

Indonesia has imposed a nationwide ban on the use of social media for children under the age of 16. By doing so, it has become the first country in Southeast Asia to implement such restrictions to protect minors from harmful online content.

Under the new rule, children under 16 are prohibited from creating accounts on major social media platforms.

This ban applies to platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox.

Objective of the Indonesian government

The aim of this move is to protect children from cyberbullying, online fraud, exposure to obscene content, and social media addiction.

Social media companies will be required to implement age-verification systems to ensure that users below the prescribed age do not create accounts.

The government has urged parents and guardians to monitor children's online activities and encourage them to use the internet responsibly. As part of strict enforcement of this rule, accounts of users under 16 on high-risk platforms will be gradually shut down.

While announcing the new rule in early March, it was stated that this regulation will apply to approximately 70 million children in Indonesia, a country with a population of around 280 million.

Australia Imposes Ban on Social Media for Children Up to 16 Years Old

Restrictions on access to social media for children under 16 were first introduced in Australia in December. There, social media companies terminated access to around 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children.

Some other countries - including Spain, France, and the United Kingdom - are also taking or considering measures to limit children’s access to social media. This is being done due to growing concerns that exposure to unregulated social media content is harming children.

Action Taken Against Certain Social Media Companies

A jury in Los Angeles found Meta and YouTube guilty (negligent) of designing apps that harmed children and teenagers and for not warning users about these risks.

The jury awarded a total compensation of $6 million to the plaintiff; the plaintiff is a 20-year-old woman identified as Kelly. Kelly had claimed that features like 'auto-scrolling' made these platforms addictive, resulting in anxiety, depression, and body image issues for her.

Indonesia country

It is a country located in Southeast Asia and Oceania, situated between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Comprising more than 17,000 islands—including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea—it is the world’s largest archipelagic country.

It shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Malaysia; and its maritime boundaries connect with seven other countries, including Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Jakarta is the current capital and largest city of Indonesia. Prabowo Subianto is the 8th President of Indonesia; he assumed office on October 20, 2024.

Southeast Asia consists of 11 major countries, divided into mainland (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam) and island regions (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Timor-Leste). This region is primarily part of the 'ASEAN' group and is located east of India and south of China.