TikTok and YouTube have deactivated about 4.7 million accounts belonging to children under the age of 16 in Indonesia as the country’s new social media restrictions begin to take effect, Reuters reported quoting Indonesia’s Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid.
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, accounted for 4.1 million of the removed accounts, while Google’s YouTube deactivated around 600,000 accounts, Meutya said late on June 25, adding that the government expects other platforms to follow suit.
The move follows a regulation introduced in March requiring social media platforms deemed high risk to deactivate accounts belonging to users under 16. The rule currently applies to platforms including X, Meta’s Instagram and gaming platform Roblox.
“We’re not just delaying a child’s access, but we want behaviours from platforms to change, too,” Meutya said, adding that the ministry is reviewing self-assessment reports submitted by the companies.
Indonesia introduced the curbs to reduce the risks of cyberbullying and social media addiction among children, following Australia’s landmark ban on underage social media use last year over concerns about its impact on young people’s mental health.
Australia’s move has since drawn global attention, with several countries considering similar measures. The UK this month announced plans to expand online restrictions to include gaming and live-streaming platforms.
Neither TikTok nor YouTube immediately responded to requests for comment.
