Indonesia announces a social media ban for anyone under 16

Following in Australia’s footsteps, Indonesia will be the latest country to limit the use of social media for children under 16. Meutya Hafid, Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, announced that a new government regulation will require “high-risk” platforms to delete any Indonesian account under the age of 16, starting March 28.

Hafid said in the announcement that the implementation would be done in stages, starting with major platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Roblox and Bigo Live, a Singapore-based live streaming platform. The minister added that all platforms will have to fulfill compliance obligations from the Indonesian government, but did not specify what those obligations were. In response to the ban, a Meta spokesperson said The New York Times that the company has not yet received official regulations from the country and was awaiting details.

While Australia was the first country to implement such a sweeping ban on social media, many other countries are currently in the process of doing the same. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced last month that the country was also prepared to ban social media for users under 16, while the Malaysian government approved a similar ban expected to come into effect this year.