Indonesia is set to block teenagers from social media apps, stating it will prevent anyone under 16 from having accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox, according to an Associated Press report. The restrictions will begin on March 28 and continue until all platforms comply with the ruling, the government said.
Indonesian Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said there are «clear» reasons for the bans.
«Our children face increasingly real threats,» Hafid said. «From exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud, and most importantly, addiction. The government is here so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giant of algorithms.»
After a surprise inspection earlier this week of Meta Platforms’ office in Jakarta, the nation’s capital, government officials said Meta was not fully complying with national restrictions around content moderation, disinformation and online gambling on its platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, the AP report said.
A wave of global restrictions
Dozens of other countries around the world — including the US, Canada, Germany and Brazil — have either banned or are considering bans on social media for children of certain ages. The reasoning is that kids can be exposed to pornography or other sexually explicit content, as well as depictions of violence.
Many governments and online safety groups argue that addictive algorithms can harm young, developing brains, and that being on social media too young and too often can cause depression, anxiety and disconnection from reality.
In December, Australia banned anyone under 16 from having accounts on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit, Kick and Twitch. Indonesia has a monumental task ahead to match this. While Australia has just 27 million people, Indonesia is the world’s fourth most-populated country at 286 million — a quarter of them 14 and under.
In February, Spain said it would ban anyone under 16 from using messaging apps such as TikTok, Instagram and X. France also wants to ban kids under 15 from social media, with President Emmanuel Macron blaming it for youth violence, and the United Kingdom is also mulling an under-16 ban.
As for restricting children’s access to social media in the US, it’s a patchwork of state laws. Florida has a partial ban for kids under 14, and California and New York are trying to regulate «addictive feeds.» Utah, Texas, and Arkansas have tried to require parental consent for minors to have social media accounts.
Violating children’s rights?
Many are pushing back against outright bans, arguing that forcing people to prove their ages will lead to having to provide sensitive personal data and documentation and «usher in an era of mass surveillance,» as writer Taylor Lorenz says.
David Greene, senior counsel with the digital privacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation, said EFF is «very concerned» about how quickly internet restrictions are spreading globally and how uncritically they are being adopted.
These kinds of restrictions — whether via a complete ban or parental consent rules — violate the rights of young people, Greene told CNET. «Even if they are under 18, or under 16, children have the right to access information, to speak and to associate,» he said.
Greene also said that forcing people to prove their age compromises online privacy, as users are required to submit to a verification process.
«It creates some type of collection of personal data, and if it is biometric, that could be highly personal and intimate,» Greene said. «You’re threatening anonymity, and for some people, their lives or their safety will be threatened if they have to attach their name to either what they say or what type of information they access.»
Prioritizing child safety?
Donna Rice Hughes, president and CEO of child online safety organization Enough Is Enough, applauded the «proactive step» that Indonesia and other countries are taking to ban kids under 16 from using social media.
«These bans should be an incentive for social media and other platforms to implement safer-by-design technologies and default parental management tools before rushing to market with products that can be dangerous for children and teens,» Hughes said.
Hughes said that by failing to do the right thing from the start, «Big Tech has dug itself into a hole.»
Hughes pointed out that the first highly successful social media platforms in the US — Facebook and MySpace — were originally designed for college-age students and older users.
«Now that millions of dollars of advertising revenue are at stake in these countries seeking bans, maybe now these tech companies will prioritize online child safety,» Hughes said.
Working around the online bans
Restrictions could also be very difficult to enforce, as many kids quickly figure out how to get around them. VPNs, which are increasingly popular, allow users to create a secure, encrypted internet connection that hides their physical location.
Anyone with some tech savvy can try to skirt web restrictions in their country — such as social media bans — by making it appear they live in a different country that doesn’t have them.
But Thorin Klosowski, security and privacy activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said VPNs are not bulletproof at circumventing internet restrictions.
«VPNs can be effective against certain types of restrictions, but not all,» Klosowski told CNET in a prior interview. «It really depends on the type of technology that’s being used for censorship and at what level. Some governments block access to VPNs.»
For governments, parents and tech companies alike, the debate around how to protect children online remains far from settled.
