Indonesia has moved to restrict social media access for minors with a newly distributed ministerial regulation that requires platforms to deactivate "high risk" accounts for anyone under the age of 16, company officials said on Monday. The deactivation is scheduled to take effect on March 28, according to Meutya Hafid, Indonesia's Communications and Digital Minister.
The Communications and Digital Ministry identified a set of platforms last week as falling into the "high risk" category. Those named include Roblox, Instagram, Google's YouTube and TikTok, the short-form video service owned by China's ByteDance.
YouTube representatives said the company is reviewing the regulation to ensure it supports parental authority while maintaining access to learning resources for millions of Indonesians. A spokesperson said, "We will continue to engage constructively with the government and remain committed to protecting youth in the digital world, not from it."
TikTok also confirmed it is in dialogue with the ministry to gain a clearer understanding of the regulation's provisions. In a statement, a company spokesperson noted the platform's teen accounts already include more than 50 preset safety, privacy and security features.
Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, responded in the days before the regulation's release. In a statement provided on Friday, the company warned that policymakers contemplating bans should take care not to drive teenagers toward less safe, unregulated sites or to logged-out experiences that would circumvent built-in protections. Meta also noted that there are default safeguards for Instagram and Facebook Teen Accounts.
The Indonesian move is part of a broader international trend in which governments are imposing limits on minors' use of social media amid concerns over safety and mental health. The ministry's action and related platform responses highlight immediate compliance and policy questions for large technology and social media companies operating in Indonesia.
Context and company responses
- The ministerial regulation was distributed on Monday, and the deactivation date for under-16 accounts is March 28.
- Platforms explicitly named by the ministry include Roblox, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
- YouTube and TikTok say they are engaging with authorities to understand and respond to the regulation; YouTube emphasized preserving educational access while protecting youth.
- Meta urged caution, saying bans can push teens toward less safe, unregulated alternatives and pointed to existing safeguards for teen accounts.
The coming days are likely to involve technical and policy-level discussions between the Indonesian government and the affected platforms as they examine how to operationalize the regulation while addressing parental controls, safety presets and the potential impact on educational content access.