After Australia, Indonesia Announces Social Media Ban For Under-16s In Major Online Safety Push

Last Updated:March 06, 2026, 14:39 IST

Jakarta said the phased rollout would allow authorities to work with digital platforms to enforce the new rules while protecting young users from online harms.

After Australia, Indonesia announced plans to ban social media use for children under 16 in a bid to prevent them from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and internet addiction.

Communications Minister Meutya Hafid said that the government would begin deactivating accounts belonging to children under 16 on several high-risk platforms, news agency AFP reported.

“Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox," Hafid said in a statement.

She added that the measure would be implemented starting March 28, 2026, and rolled out in stages until all platforms meet the government’s compliance requirements. She said that the phased rollout would allow authorities to work with digital platforms to enforce the new rules while protecting young users from online harms.

“The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm," Hafid said, acknowledging that the policy could cause “some initial inconvenience" for users.

The minister described the move as necessary to address what she called a growing “digital emergency."

“We are taking this step to reclaim the sovereignty of our children’s future. We want technology to humanise humans, not sacrifice our children’s childhood," she said.

Last year in December, Australia became the first country in the world to officially ban children under 16 from having accounts on major social media platforms.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the law as a world-first step aimed at protecting young people. He said Australia was showing that “enough is enough" when it comes to the bad influence of social media on children.

Under the new rules, platforms are required to remove accounts belonging to users under 16 or face heavy fines. As the law took effect, teenagers across the country lost access to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and several other platforms.

Meanwhile, the European Union has formed an expert group to explore a similar restriction across member states. Countries including France, Denmark, Greece, and Spain have also pushed for stronger safeguards for children online.

Meanwhile, in India, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have announced similar restrictions for children under 16 and 13, respectively, to prevent the adverse effects of increasing mobile usage on children.

(With inputs from agencies)

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