This Is The Reason For The Difference In The Age Limit For Children Accessing Social Media In Indonesia And Australia

Illustration of social media (photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, Meutya Hafid, stated that Indonesia became the second country in the world after Australia, which implemented regulation on delaying child access to digital platforms.

Menkomdigi Meutya Hafid emphasized that the policy of limiting the age of using social media for children was not made suddenly, but through a long process, including Australia, which is one of the main references.

"The benchmarking has indeed become a bit challenging because not many countries have this kind of step. Then Australia was promulgated for about a year, yesterday December, only one that was really implemented," said Meutya on Wednesday, November 19 in Jakarta.

Nevertheless, Meutya mentioned the difference in the application of age restrictions in Indonesia with regulations in Australia.

Where Indonesia chooses to apply the age range of 13 to 18 years in Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025 concerning Governance for the Implementation of Electronic Systems in Child Protection (PP TUNAS), and Australia imposes a single limit, which is a minimum age of 16 years.

He explained that the decision not to set a rigid age figure because it considers input from various parties, ranging from children observers, civil society organizations, to international institutions such as UNICEF.

Indonesia's approach is also built based on the risk of profiling for children's development, so that the arrangement becomes more flexible but remains protected.

"In Indonesia, we provide a range of 13 to 18 years with a proper risk that we currently sort one by one," he explained further.

Meutya also hopes that this regulation will not limit children's creativity or access to technology, but so that they enter the digital space when they are really ready.