Indonesian kids face socmed ban

JAKARTA (AFP) — Bradley Rowen Liu, 11, wonders what he will do with himself once Indonesia’s social media ban for under-16s enters into force on Saturday. As things stand, he spends most of his free time on TikTok.

The primary schooler is one of about 70 million children the government is hoping to shield from the threats of cyberbullying, pornography and internet addiction.

Several countries have proposed teen social media bans since Australia’s landmark move in December to stop users under 16 from holding accounts on many popular platforms.

But Indonesia is among the first to act as concerns grow over the impact of such apps on kids’ mental and physical wellbeing.

YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox — deemed “high-risk” platforms by authorities in the Southeast Asian nation — will from Saturday start deactivating underage accounts.

Liu, who says he can easily spend five hours a day on TikTok at weekends, told Agence France-Presse he worries the ban will leave him driftless.

“Maybe I’ll do some other activities,” he shrugged, without much conviction.

“But I think I’m going to ask my dad or my mom to help me access” the video-sharing app, the boy said after class at a private academy in Jakarta where he learns computer coding.

Onus on platforms

“Parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm,” communications minister Meutya Hafid said when she announced the ban three weeks ago.

Like in Australia, the Indonesian rules place the onus on platforms to regulate teen access.

Non-compliance of the ban, which will be phased in over time, will put defaulters at risk of a fine or even a suspension.

Indonesia has not said how it plans to monitor implementation, and the communications ministry did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.

It is part of a global reckoning over the potential harms of social media for minors.

A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman through the “addictive design” of their platforms, ordering the companies to pay $6 million in damages.

Britain’s upper house of parliament voted this week in favor of banning children from social media, piling pressure on the government to follow suit.