Indonesia’s social media curbs for kids set to kick in, but few know how they will work

JAKARTA – Armed with a smartphone, Anza Zafran Utama, a nine-year-old boy in the Indonesian city of Bogor, is either a dinosaur or a shooter, depending on his mood.

He and his friends regularly hang out on Roblox, a US platform where children can build immersive 3D worlds and communities. But from March 28, under-16s in Indonesia are set to be restricted from using the platform under new government rules, after officials designated it high risk.

“I like to joke around with my friends there,” Zafran said of Roblox.

His mother Andina Dwi said he spends as long as four hours on the platform after school, getting up only to charge his phone.

“When he plays Roblox, he forgets time,” said the 32-year-old, who supports the controls.

Indonesia’s social media curbs, which the government says are intended to reduce the risk of cyberbullying and addiction, follow a ban in Australia in 2025 over concerns about social media’s potential harms to young people’s mental health.

In the US, where social media companies face thousands of lawsuits over their platform designs, a court on March 26 found Meta and Alphabet’s YouTube created addictive products that caused harm to young people.

Indonesia has also designated platforms including X, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, as high risk.

‘Technical guidance lacking’

But as the clock ticks down to March 28, neither parents nor children have much idea of what will happen – whether all under-16 users will find their accounts automatically deactivated, or whether there will be a new verification process.

“The policy is all concepts but the technical guidance is still lacking,” said Associate Professor Ika Idris, a social media expert at Monash University, a mother of two children, aged 11 and 16, who use Roblox.

Calling the policy rushed, she added that she was unsure what would happen on March 28.

Earlier in March, Ms Meutya Hafid, Indonesia’s Communications and Digital Minister, said the deactivation of current accounts of under-16s would take place gradually from March 28.

She did not go into detail and the timeline and criteria for deactivation remain unclear.

High-risk platforms must adjust their minimum age and deactivate accounts of underage users, as well as independently determine the risks they pose, according to a ministerial decree published this week.

Platforms are determined high risk if they fulfil criteria such as the possibility of talking to strangers, addictive qualities and psychological risks, the ministry said.

Platforms take steps to comply

Roblox will introduce content and communication controls for players under 16 in Indonesia to comply with the social media regulations, the company said.

Mr Berni Moestafa, Meta’s head of public policy, Indonesia and Philippines, said the company was “committed to protecting teens” and had launched “Teen Accounts” for Instagram and Facebook in Indonesia.

He added that the accounts included “built-in protections to address parents’ top concerns, including who their teens are talking to online, the content they’re seeing and whether their time is being well spent, by default”.

TikTok did not comment when asked about measures it had taken.

X said Indonesia’s minimum age requirement “prevents age-restricted social media platforms, including X, from letting people under 16 create or keep an account. It’s not our choice – it’s what Indonesian law requires”.

Google on March 27 said it had placed safeguards for children and appreciated Indonesia’s “risk-based self-assessment approach which incentivises built-in protections and age-appropriate experiences for youth, as opposed to a blanket ban”.

It added that YouTube was often used for educational purposes and removing accounts of under-16s risked “creating an educational divide” in a country of 280 million people.

‘I don’t watch anything strange’

Indonesia announced penalties in 2025 for non-compliance with the protections, including sanctions and, in the worst cases, a block on the platform.

But experts remain sceptical about the measures’ implementation, and say children may also be able to find ways around the system.

“There are concerns this won’t be effective,” said Mr Wahyudi Djafar, tech analyst and director of think-tank Catalyst Policy Works. “The implementation is complicated.”

Internet penetration in Indonesia reached 80.66 per cent in 2025, according to a survey by the Indonesia Internet Service Providers’ Association. The survey showed it was as high as 87.8 per cent among Gen Z users aged 13 to 28.

“I don’t watch anything strange... just normal things,” said 10-year-old Andaru Brahma Satria, about potentially losing access to YouTube.

“I feel just a little bit sad.” REUTERS