Indonesia to ban social media for children under 16

Indonesia just announced a ban on social media for anyone under 16, following a similar ban in Australia.

On Friday, Indonesia’s minister of communication and digital affairs, Meutya Hafid, said in a speech shared online that the ban will begin on March 28. The rationale, according to a translation by the New York Times, is due to perceived threats of pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud, and social media addiction.

On March 28, children’s accounts on “high-risk” platforms — including X, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Roblox, and livestreaming app Bigo Live — will begin to be deactivated. There aren’t many details about how this will take place.

The announcement comes after Indonesia lifted a ban on Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok at the start of February. The country initially blocked Grok due to safety concerns and said it will continue to monitor its guardrails.

This is also happening after Australia banned social media for children under 16 last year. Elsewhere, such as in the U.S. and UK, age-verification laws have been enacted in an attempt to restrict minors’ access to content “harmful to minors,” namely pornography. A landmark trial about social media addiction is also underway in the U.S.