Pramono Supports Social Media Restrictions for Children under 16: Many Are Addicted to Gadgets 

DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung/PHOTO: Diah Ayu-VOI

JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung stated that he supports the policy of restricting the use of social media for children under the age of 16 years which is regulated in the Regulation of the Minister of Communication and Digital (Komdigi). The rules are planned to take effect on March 28, 2026.

According to Pramono, this policy is a good step to protect children from the negative impact of excessive use of social media.

"I will provide full support. Because the minister's regulation is good in my opinion. Even though later in the implementation in the field it cannot be said 100 percent, because this is for some children it has become a culture," said Pramono at the DKI Jakarta City Hall, Monday, March 9.

Pramono realized that the implementation of the rules in the field would not be easy to do completely. This is because the use of gadgets and social media has become part of the daily lives of many children.

However, assessing that the restrictions are still important to reduce children's gadget addiction.

"With this restriction, I believe it will provide benefits, especially for the child itself. Because now there are many children who are really addicted to gadgets," he said.

Pramono also touched on the habit of children interacting more through gadgets than communicating directly with their families.

According to Pramono, this is also one of the reasons why the DKI Provincial Government is campaigning for the "Mudik to Jakarta" program, so that people can still communicate with their families without having to always rely on gadgets.

"So why do I also announce that I will go home to Jakarta, rather than meeting my family just playing gadgets, it's better to video call with my family, but the cost of going home can be used for more productive things," said Pramono.

"So with that, the campaign for homecoming to Jakarta is really what we are doing, and my hope is that starting next week Jakarta can give a better discount party," he continued.

The Ministry of Communication and Digital officially issued Minister Regulation Number 9 of 2026, as a derivative of Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025 concerning the Governance of the Implementation of Electronic Systems in Child Protection (PP TUNAS).

Through this Komdigi Decree, the government stipulates that children under 16 years of age will no longer be able to have accounts on high-risk digital platforms.

The Minister of Communication and Information, Meutya Hafid, emphasized that this rule is intended to protect against negative impacts in the digital space including exposure to pornographic content, cyberbullying, online fraud, and above all addiction.

"The government is here so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the algorithm giants," Meutya said in a statement through a Reels video uploaded to the official @kemkomdigi Instagram account.

The implementation phase will begin on March 28, 2026, where child accounts under 16 years of age will be disabled, starting from eight applications, namely YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Thread, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox.

Apparently, this decision was made because the eight applications are the most used applications by children in Indonesia and are also risky.

The implementation process will be carried out gradually until all platforms carry out compliance obligations, which are in accordance with existing regulations.

"We are aware that the implementation of this regulation may cause inconvenience at first, children may complain, and parents may be confused when faced with their children's complaints. However, we believe this is the best step that the government must take in the midst of a digital emergency," he continued.

He emphasized that the issuance of this regulation is a concrete step for the state to protect families.

"We take this step to reclaim the sovereignty of our children's future. We want technology to humanize humans, not to bury our children's childhood," he concluded.