Indonesian Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid said in a video statement on Friday that her government will “delay access” to social media for children under 16, following in the footsteps of Australia’s unprecedented ban on accounts for young people.
On the same day, India’s southern tech-heavy state of Karnataka announced a similar ban.
Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media for children under 16 in December 2025, implementing a law that was passed a year earlier. Australian politicians said they had received inquiries from other countries that wanted to pass regulations based on the Australian law.
In January, Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells said 4.7 million accounts had already been banned under the new law, demonstrating both its effectiveness and the practicality of implementing restrictions on social media use by children. The number of other countries expressing interest in social media bans grew, although many of the proposals were less strict than Australia’s, with lower cutoff ages or more exceptions allowed.
Indonesia’s neighbor Malaysia said it would impose a social media ban on under-16s sometime this year, and Indonesia published its own regulations on Friday, set to take effect on March 28.
Indonesia’s ban has a comparable cutoff age to Australia’s, it will apply only to “high risk platforms,” including two of the names most often cited by activists concerned about the risks of social media for children: Roblox and TikTok. Hafid said Facebook and Instagram would also be covered by the new rules.
“The process will be done gradually until all platforms perform their obligations,” she promised, offering something of a contrast with Australia’s abrupt implementation of a total ban, albeit a year after the enabling legislation was passed.
“We realize this may cause discomfort in the beginning. Children may complain and parents may be confused dealing with their complaints,” she said.
“The basis is clear. Our children face increasingly real threats. 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,” she contended.
The Associated Press on Friday quoted parents in Jakarta who were generally supportive of the new legislation, and if anything thought it did not go far enough to shield their children from social media harm.
“As parents, we hope that online gambling and pornography websites can also be removed. So, in a sense, the government must also be fair. This is for the sake of the people themselves, for the children, and for the children’s growth and development,” said one Jakarta resident.
On Wednesday, Hafid paid a surprise visit to the Jakarta offices of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The communications minister issued a “stern warning” to Meta after her inspection visit, accusing the company of not doing enough to strike down harmful content.
“Disinformation, defamation, and hate content threaten lives in Indonesia, yet Meta has allowed them to persist,” she said.
The state of Karnataka in southern India, where the tech hub city of Bengaluru is located, also banned social media for children under 16 on Friday.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the objective was to prevent “adverse effects of increasing mobile usage on children.” He did not say when the ban would take effect, or list the platforms that would be affected. Other Karnataka officials said regulations would be crafted within 90 days.
India is the second-largest smartphone market in the world, and Bengaluru is one of India’s most tech-savvy cities, hosting offices for firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Several other Indian states are considering social media bans, and in January, chief economic adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran suggested nationwide rules for social media use by children.
“Policies on age-based access limits may be considered, as younger users are more vulnerable to compulsive use and harmful content. Platforms should be made responsible for enforcing age verification and age-appropriate defaults,” he recommended.
The Hindu on Friday cited analysts who said Karnataka’s social media ban might run afoul of laws that say only the national government can regulate the Internet. An unnamed senior official said New Delhi planned to “observe how such a ban imposed by a state works before responding.”
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