Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid announced that TikTok has deactivated nine million underage accounts to comply with Indonesia’s online child protection regulation.
The regulation, Government Regulation No. 17 of 2025 regarding Electronic System Governance for Child Protection (PP Tunas), came into force on March 28, 2026, restricting social media access for children under 16.
Reported by state media Antara, Meutya noted that Meta has also taken a similar move by deactivating 184,000 accounts belonging to children under 16, comprising 85,000 on Instagram and 99,000 on Facebook. Additionally, the tech giant migrated 22.5 million accounts owned by minors to teen accounts.
Meutya highlighted seven key risks the government considers when evaluating online safety for children: contact risk, content risk, addiction, consumer safety, physical health, physiological well-being, and mental health.
One key issue remaining with teen accounts is communication features that still allow users to interact with strangers.
Meutya stressed that the Indonesian government does not measure compliance with its online child protection regulation solely by the number of deactivated accounts. Adjusting features to make platforms safer for children remains a critical requirement for digital platforms.
Along with restricting communication with strangers, she emphasised the need for features that curb screen addiction, such as setting scroll time limits.
