Regarding The Rules For Restricting The Age Of Playing Social Media, Meta Encourages The Role Of Parents

Komdigi Meeting with Meta (photo: Komdigi)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Communication and Digital Technology emphasizes the need to increase supervision and regulations for digital platforms to protect children from cyber threats.

When meeting with Meta as one of the largest digital platform companies in the world, Menkomdigi Meutya Hafid explained the importance of strict regulations to ensure the safety of children in the digital space.

"It's not just about self-regulation by the platform, but also the government's active involvement," Meutya said at the meeting, quoted Wednesday, March 12.

He also emphasized that one of the government's main concerns is the high number of children under 13 who already have social media accounts, even though the platform's internal policies prohibit them from joining.

If the rules exist but are ineffective, it means there are loopholes that need to be fixed. We want to make sure the platform actually implements age constraints and doesn't just rely on self-management mechanisms that turn out not to be strong enough, Meutya added.

During the meeting, the Minister of Trade also responded to input from the digital platform Meta which suggested empowering parents as the main solution.

Although the role of parents is no less important, Meutya explained that not all parents have the capacity to supervise their children. Therefore, by government regulations, it is an unavoidable step to provide wider and equitable protection.

The Minister of Trade also highlighted the importance of cooperation between regulators and digital platforms in creating a safer online environment.

In addition to strict regulation of user age, the government also considers additional policies, including time limits for using social media for children and a more accurate age verification mechanism.

"We want to find a middle point between government regulations and private initiatives. The most important thing is how we ensure that Indonesian children can grow up in a healthy and safe digital environment," he said.

As a further step, the government will continue to discuss with various stakeholders, including digital platforms, parliament, and the community, to design effective and implementative policies.