Digital Platforms Need Comprehensive Regulation

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government through the Ministry of Communication and Digital has issued regulations or regulations related to digital social media platforms. This policy is contained in Regulation of the Minister of Communication and Digital Number 9 of 2026 which is a derivative of Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025 concerning the Governance of the Implementation of Electronic Systems in the Protection of Children or PP Tunas.

This policy was issued as a step to tighten the rules for using social media on a number of digital platforms that are considered to have a high level of risk for children. As a result, a number of digital social media platforms were closed to children under the age of 16. YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox are in the category of digital services whose access is suspended for children under the age of 16.

The Minister of Communication and Digital, Meutya Hafid, emphasized that this policy is part of the government's serious steps to strengthen child protection in an increasingly complex digital space. Therefore, the main focus of this policy is not to prohibit children from using the internet, but to regulate the age that is considered safer in accessing certain digital services.

According to Meutya, platforms that fall into the high-risk category are considered to have the potential to expose sensitive content, interactions with strangers, and the risk of addiction to use. In this new rule scheme, accounts belonging to children who have not reached the age of 16 on high-risk platforms will be gradually disabled. The suspension will be carried out after the full implementation period of the regulation, which is scheduled to take effect on March 28, 2026.

However, Meutya explained that the sanctions were not aimed at children or parents. Enforcement of the rules is directed at digital platforms that do not carry out child protection obligations in accordance with applicable regulations.

"With this policy, the government stipulates that new children can have accounts on high-risk digital platforms after they are at least 16 years old. However, for digital services that have a lower risk, access is granted from the age of 13 with supervision," he said.

Based on data from the Ministry of Communication and Digital, the number of Indonesian children who are active on the internet is very large. Of the 229 million internet users in the country, almost 80 percent are children. This is what encourages the government to take preventive measures. The reason is that UNICEF data says that about 50 percent of Indonesian children who use the internet have been exposed to sexual content through social media. Then there are about 42 percent of children who admit that they have ever felt afraid or uncomfortable due to their experiences in the digital world. Then the government also recorded cases of online child exploitation reaching around 1.45 million cases.

With this policy, Indonesia is one of the countries that have started to tighten the age limit for using high-risk digital platforms. The government itself hopes that this step can create a safer digital ecosystem while helping parents monitor their children's activities on the internet. "This policy is important to protect the future of Indonesia's digital generation. We want technology to humanize people, not to bury our children's childhood," continued Meutya.

Digital platform observer, Enda Nasution, hopes that the latest regulations issued by the government can create a safer digital environment for children by ensuring that platforms that provide access to them have adequate supervision systems. However, the effectiveness of this rule depends on the extent to which the government is able to carry out strict supervision.

"I don't know exactly what capacity and resources have been prepared to enforce this regulation. Of course I hope that the implementation and enforcement of this new regulation have been well thought out, so that the results of the implementation of this regulation are in line with expectations and do not cause unwanted side effects," he added.

Comprehensive Regulation for Digital Sovereignty and Public Protection

The rapid development of digitalization is recognized by the General Chair of Publikom Gama, Agus Sudibyo, indeed raises big questions in the field of legislation, especially regarding how the state should regulate digital platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, and others. Previously, there had been a discourse on the integration of regulation of digital platforms in the Broadcasting Law which is in the process of revision. The goal is that digital content that is spread through these platforms rests on ethical standards and a scheme to protect public interests that are equivalent to television and radio broadcasting media.

The question is whether the new media arrangements that are cross-platform, multi-service, interactive, and focused on personalized content can be integrated into regulations designed to regulate terrestrial broadcasting that is more or less linear, one-way, and focused on the regulation of generic audio and audiovisual content distribution.

According to Agus, it is inevitable that digital platforms must be regulated through a solid national regulatory framework. Global digital platforms such as Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, X, Tiktok, and Google now play a dominant role in shaping public opinion, social behavior, and even patterns of mass communication.

Citing a report from We Are Social and Kepios, Indonesia has more than 143 million YouTube users, 108 million TikTok users, and 103 million Instagram users. In addition, Facebook remains a significant platform with 122 million users in Indonesia. These data show that Indonesia is one of the largest social media service markets in the world, with user growth figures that continue to crawl.

Agus revealed that the absence of comprehensive national regulations in this matter makes Indonesia vulnerable to exploitative practices, ranging from tax evasion, misuse of personal data, advertising practices that violate privacy, the spread of divisive hoaxes, to algorithmically and personalized political mobilization.

"Social media platforms have now become the main gateway for people to access digital information, products, and services. However, they generally work with closed algorithm systems that are prone to conflicts of interest," he said.

He emphasized that with the penetration of digital platforms that is so wide and deep, a firm regulation is needed to ensure that the development of digital technology goes hand in hand with the protection of public interests and national sovereignty. This regulatory effort is not a form of rejection of the progress of information technology, but a strategic step towards digital sovereignty and public protection from exploitative practices based on information technology.

Agus said that digital space governance has a more complex scope than just regulating specific social media content. A regulatory model is needed that comprehensively accommodates a large ecosystem that is multi-service and multi-product, multi-agency, cross-platform, with coverage that goes beyond the distribution and monetization of audio or audiovisual content.

One option that then emerged was the separation of regulation. The audio and audio-visual content distribution services became the domain of the Broadcasting Law regulation, as has been the case for radio and television broadcasts. Meanwhile, other services, as described above, are regulated through separate regulations that are more appropriate for the character and problems of each.

"However, this separation of regulation is hit by regulatory inefficiency because it assumes the formation of various new laws, with legislative challenges, resource allocation, and cross-sector harmonization that are not simple," added Agus.

The next option is to form a new regulatory framework, either through an omnibus law approach or through the preparation of a digital governance framework. This framework establishes the basic principles of digital space governance such as transparency, accountability, protection of digital rights, and economic justice that can be derived into more contextual and responsive sectoral regulations to the dynamics of technological developments.

The European Union can be a reference in this regard. Without integrating digital platform regulations into broadcasting regulations, the European Union formed two groundbreaking regulations that are comprehensive, the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

DSA regulates the obligation of platforms to ensure content transparency, user protection, and stopping the spread of illegal content. DMA is designed to stop the practice of monopoly of large-scale digital platforms (gatekeepers), as well as creating an innovative ecosystem that is pro-small and medium-sized businesses. Both regulations are not repressive, but are based on the principles of digital human rights, algorithmic transparency, and fairness in the new economic sector.

According to Agus, DSA and DMA can be considered as a more comprehensive, adaptive, contextual and dynamic media governance model in integrating consensus on algorithm transparency, protection of personal data, fairness for local business actors, supervision of harmful content and advertising, and the importance of openness of systems and independent audits on the way digital platforms work.

"The destination is also the same, namely a (new) public space that is ethical, democratic, deliberative, and protection of national interests in the global digitalization. The weakness in context is to add new laws at a time when the spirit of efficiency becomes Indonesia's national commitment," he concluded.