Regarding Age Restrictions, Meutya Hafid: PSE Violating Will Be Sanctioned

Menkomdigi Meutya Hafid (photo: dock. VOI)

JAKARTA - Indonesia is one of the countries with the largest number of internet users in the world, with more than 221 million users or around 79.5 percent of the total population.

In fact, 9.17 percent of the total internet users in Indonesia are Gen-Alpha or users who come from the age group under 12 years. Therefore, it is very important to create a safe digital space for children.

Minister of Communication and Digital Meutya Hafid said that based on a survey by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), Indonesia was ranked fourth globally and second in the ASEAN region, in the number of child pornography cases in the digital space.

"So these figures are of concern from the government to strengthen regulations related to child protection in the digital space," Meutya said on Tuesday, February 18 at the Ministry of Communication and Industry office, Jakarta.

Meutya emphasized that currently Komdigi is still working on regulations regarding limiting the age of social media use by children. However, he stressed that he could not explain the details of the regulation before it was finalized.

"Once again we say that the most important thing is to secure children from being able to create their own accounts to a certain age. So this does not mean limiting them to cyberspace, to the internet, because once again they can access if their parents give it," he explained.

There will be no sanctions for parents or children. Sanctions will be given to PSE or Electronic System Operators who violate this rule. "Once again we don't want to impose sanctions on their children, or on their parents," he added.

Meutya also said that the regulations that are being finalized will regulate the responsibility of Electronic System Operators (PSE) in ensuring the safety of children in the digital world.

So, if there is a violation of the rules, sanctions will not be given to children or parents, but to digital platforms that violate these rules.

"So this is not flat for all PSE, but there is categorization. If the PSE has good enough child safety, then of course we will relax it. If the security of the child or the danger caused by the PSE is high, of course we will also have categorization," he concluded.