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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) \u2014 Indonesia on Saturday began implementing a new government regulation<\/a> approved earlier this month that bans children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n With the move, Indonesia became the first country in Southeast Asia to ban children from having accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox. It follows measures that Australia took last year in a world-first social media ban for children<\/a> as part of a push for families to take back power from tech giants and protect their teens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Indonesia has said that the implementation of the restrictions would be carried out gradually, until all platforms comply with the measure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In announcing the new regulation earlier in March, Indonesia’s Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said it would apply to around 70 million children in Indonesia \u2014 a country with a population of about 280 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hafid said high-risk digital platforms are identified by factors such as how easy it is for children to become exposed to strangers, potential predators and harmful content in general, as well as the levels of risk of exploitation and data security scams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But she acknowledged that implementing the new regulation \u2014 even gradually as planned \u2014 will be difficult. Getting digital platforms to comply and then making them report deactivations of under-16 accounts is difficult.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThis is certainly a task. But we must take steps to save our children,” Hafid said. “It\u2019s not easy. Nevertheless, we must see it through.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Maura Munthe, a 13-year-old who spends roughly four hours a day on her phone on social media, including playing games on Roblox with her friends, said she feels \u201ckind of 50-50\u201d about the new government policy but mostly agrees with it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Her peers in school, she says, worry they will miss out on all the fun and entertainment they now have access to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere are always other games on my phone, not only the online ones,” she said. “I will likely play more games alone or just hang out with my friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Munthe’s mother, Leni Sinuraya, 47, said she has for years trusted her daughter to use her phone wisely, both when studying and when playing online games. Still, she sees the government’s move as good for all children in Indonesia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Parents, she says, have lost control \u2014 and social media platforms have taken over.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cNowadays, when we see kids sitting in a restaurant, they have a phone right in front of them. It\u2019s clear that they\u2019re addicted,” Sinuraya said. \u201cThey won\u2019t eat unless they\u2019re given a phone, and they throw a tantrum if they aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “Mealtime is supposed to be a time for us to chat with the people around us,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Based in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, Diena Haryana founded Semai Jiwa Amini foundation \u2014 also known as SEJIWA, a nonprofit that works on online child safety and protection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to Haryana, studies have shown that children\u2019s use of social media can impact their mental health and trigger anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But, she says, digital platforms also offer advantages and open up a whole realm of learning. Her foundation has tried to get parents and communities to work together on providing guidance and supervision for children in the online world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe also need to remember that they need to learn to use this digital technology at the right time, at the right age, and with the right guidance as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Haryana said the effects of restricting access to social media and digital platforms to children under 16 will only be seen once the measure is in place \u2014 she predicted both complaints from children and confusion among parents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Parents and schools are expected to provide children with solutions on how to learn in the real world \u2014 not the digital one, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOf course, this takes time to get used to, which is why parents and schools need to encourage children to engage with the real world and make it fun for them,” Haryana added. “And there\u2019s plenty in the real world for children to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So far, few platforms have reacted to Indonesia’s new regulation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Elon Musk\u2019s X on its Indonesia Online Safety Information page gives 16 as the minimum age required for users in the country. \u201cIt\u2019s not our choice – it\u2019s what Indonesian law requires,\u201d the page says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Google-owned YouTube said it supports the Indonesian government’s effort to create an effective, risk-based framework that addresses online harms while preserving access to information and digital opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe are ready to engage under the regulation\u2019s self-assessment approach to demonstrate our long-standing safety rigor,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Restrictions on social media access for children under 16<\/a> first began in December in Australia, where social media companies revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts<\/a> identified as belonging to children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some other countries \u2014 including Spain<\/a>, France<\/a> and the United Kingdom<\/a> \u2014 are also taking or considering measures to restrict children’s access to social media amid growing concern that they are being harmed by exposure to unregulated social media content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) \u2014 Indonesia on Saturday began implementing a new government regulation approved earlier this month that bans children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction. With the move, Indonesia became the first country in Southeast Asia to ban children from having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[188,183,43574,185,186,28838,46522,187,184,2654,43572,189,150,182,190],"class_list":["post-423187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-blockchain-tech","tag-blockchain-technology","tag-children-under-16","tag-crypto-technology","tag-cryptocurrency-technology","tag-digital-platforms","tag-indonesia-government-regulation","tag-metaverse-technology","tag-nft-technology","tag-online-safety","tag-social-media-ban","tag-soul-bound-token","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-token-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":423192,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423187\/revisions\/423192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}