Medan, Indonesia – As a mother of an 18-month-old daughter, Laila Lubis is busy experiencing new maternal challenges and joys.
Her daughter recently uttered her first words, and Rubis is already thinking about how the internet and social media can shape her development in the future.
“I will never give my children a cell phone,” Rubis, who works as a humanitarian worker in Mandale in Natal, North Sumatra, told Al Jazeera.
“I won’t allow my daughter to use her cell phone whenever possible. Maybe my child is around 6 years old and I’m thinking of homeschooling her for kindergarten, so she’s on the internet for that. You need to access it.”
Countless families have made similar arguments across Indonesia as governments prepare to introduce a minimum age for social media use.
Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid first came up with plans last month as part of an effort to boost child protection policies for the archipelago of around 280 million people.
The government has not yet announced a specific age limit, but authorities have highlighted the need for stronger regulations to protect minors from “physical, mental or moral dangers.” It’s there.
Indonesia’s bid comes shortly after similar efforts in neighboring Australia. It became the first country to introduce a ban on social media access for those under the age of 16 in November.
Under Australian law, social media platforms such as Facebook, Tiktok and Instagram face fines of up to $32 million if they can’t implement the age requirement.
Prior to the introduction of the law, Jakarta announced its intention to impose interim child protection guidelines on social media companies while drafting the law.
Rubis said he believes the government has started debating online and is positive, although the ban hasn’t come to fruition.
“I think there’s more negatives than positive about social media and the internet, especially those who use very young children,” she said.
The potential ban is the latest in a series of efforts by the Indonesian government to curb major tech companies.
In October, Indonesian authorities banned the Google Pixel on Apple’s iPhone 16 and Google Pixel sales that were not compliant with regulations requiring smartphones to source at least 40% of their parts locally .
In 2022, the government threatened to block Google, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram if the company escaped its ban after signing up before the deadline but did not register with the Ministry of Communications.
Also, Netflix, a popular streaming platform from 2016 to 2020, amid concerns that authorities promoted “inappropriate content” including pornography and temporarily blocked video sharing platform Tiktok in 2018. blocked.
“In a sense, this issue reflects the source of wider tensions between Jakarta and Big Tech, and calls for greater corporate accountability to maintain safe information spaces for Indonesians. It reflects that we are here,” he told Al Jazeera at the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy.
“By imposing age restrictions on social media use, enforcement burdens will shift to high-tech companies, directly liability for compliance and potential fallout,” Priyandita said, debating social media restrictions. has been swirling in Indonesia for years, but serious efforts have been swirling for years, he added. It has recently gained traction.
“The authorities have focused primarily on child exploitation, radical stories and other harmful content,” he said.
Australia’s laws have broken new status, but the potential ban in Indonesia will affect far more people.
According to the Indonesian Association of Internet Service Providers, around 139 million Indonesians use social media, using almost half of children under the age of 12, including Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook.
Priyandita has the highest internet usage in Indonesia for Gen Z users ages 12 to 27, most of which are active on Tiktok and Instagram, both with over 110 million users across the country. Masu.
“Gen Alpha (people born after 2010) could also be very active users of social media. Their departure from these platforms will result in social media losing a huge number of followers. It means it could be set up like that,” he said.
Like Australia, the plan to implement the minimum age also raises concerns about privacy and potential misuse of user data.
“To implement minimum age requirements on social media platforms, user identification such as driver licenses and national IDs will be required. This is especially true on platforms that promote anonymity, such as reddit, where sensitive data is not available. It poses a great privacy risk because it can be breached or sold,” Priyandita said.
“One option is for the government to store user data, but the platform simply checks your ID without retaining personal information. However, digital identity systems are susceptible to data breaches and misuse. This enables its own security vulnerabilities.”
Some Indonesians have questioned the need for government intervention to keep minors away from the general platform.
Adi Salwono, a social worker who runs the Busapsta Caliteracy Program for Underprivileged Children in Lampung, Sumatra, has found that the use of social media among young people is positive and negative. He said there are both.
“Positives include developing creativity and communication skills for children. However, social media can affect concentration, cause excessive anxiety, lack of confidence, and even cause sleep disorders and bullying. There are negative things like that,” Salwono told Al Jazeera.
Trying to eradicate or limit social media use among children can be difficult to achieve at an age where most people are online, Salwonho said.
“Technological advancements are not resistable, but they can be used wisely. We need to control how children access social media and when they use it,” he said.
“We also need space to ensure that our children are monitored when using social media.”