JAKARTA: Indonesia on Saturday began enforcing social media restrictions that bar users under 16 from holding accounts on digital platforms classified as high risk, launching a measure that immediately raises questions over access, enforcement and account removals for millions of children. The rule covers eight services named by the communications ministry and puts Indonesia at the forefront of a far-reaching regulatory shift whose practical effects were still unclear as the rollout started.
The legal framework rests on Ministerial Regulation No. 9/2026, issued in Jakarta on March 6 as the implementing rule for Government Regulation No. 17/2025 on child protection in electronic systems. It creates age bands for online access and treats social networking and social media as high risk by default unless reclassified. Children under 13 may hold accounts only on low-risk services designed for children with parental consent, while those aged 13 to under 16 may hold accounts only on low-risk services with parental consent.
A separate ministerial decree issued this month names Instagram, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, Bigo Live, Roblox and X as high-risk services. The decree requires operators to adjust published minimum-age rules, deactivate accounts that fall below those limits, issue user guidelines explaining how deactivation works and how challenges can be filed, and report implementation progress. The order says deactivation of affected child accounts will proceed gradually from March 28, underscoring the scale of a compliance exercise that reaches across major global platforms.
Rollout Leaves Key Details Unclear
The rollout began with significant uncertainty. Parents and children interviewed ahead of implementation said they still did not know whether underage accounts would disappear automatically or be handled through a new verification process. The communications minister has acknowledged that securing platform compliance and ensuring deactivations will be difficult, while official guidance left unanswered how existing accounts would be identified, how appeals would be handled in practice and how long the phased removals would take.
That ambiguity matters in one of the world’s largest and most connected internet markets. Indonesia has about 280 million people, and the government has said the restrictions apply to around 70 million children. Internet penetration reached 80.66% in 2025, according to the country’s internet providers association, and 87.8% among Gen Z users aged 13 to 28. Against that backdrop, sudden account disruption affects not only entertainment and social interaction but also the daily digital routines of a generation that spends a substantial share of its time online.
Broad Reach Across Daily Use
The regulation is narrower than some headlines suggest, but its reach is still sweeping. It is not a blanket prohibition on every digital service for everyone under 16. Even so, social networking and social media are presumed high risk under the rule, and the named platforms include video, live-streaming and gaming services used widely by Indonesian families. Google said removing under-16 accounts from YouTube could widen a knowledge gap, while several companies said they were still working through the government’s requirements as the deadline arrived.
Companies including TikTok, X, Meta and Roblox have said they are taking steps to comply, yet the first day of enforcement leaves the most important questions unresolved: how age checks will work at scale, how many accounts will be disabled, and how children and parents will navigate a system that requires removals while procedures are still being clarified. For a policy aimed at tens of millions of young users, the immediate picture is one of broad restrictions, incomplete guidance and a rollout that began before the public had clear answers on its mechanics – By Content Syndication Services.