News: 0180920582

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Indonesia To Ban Social Media For Children Under 16 (theguardian.com)

(Saturday March 07, 2026 @11:34AM (BeauHD) from the time-to-go-outside dept.)


Indonesia will [1]ban children under 16 from having accounts on major social media platforms as part of a government push to protect minors from harmful content, addiction, and online threats. The rule will roll out starting March 28 and makes Indonesia the first country in Southeast Asia to impose such a restriction. The Guardian reports:

> Meutya Hafid said in a statement to media said that she signed a government regulation that will mean children under the age of 16 can no longer have accounts on high-risk digital platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Roblox and Bigo Live, a popular livestreaming site. With a population of about 285 million, the fourth-highest in the world, the south-east Asian nation represents a significant market for social networks.

>

> The implementation will start gradually from 28 March, until all platforms fulfill their compliance obligations. "The basis is clear. Our children face increasingly real threats. From exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud, and most importantly addiction. The government is here so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giant of algorithms," Hafid said.

>

> She added that the government is taking this step as the best effort in the midst of a digital emergency to reclaim sovereignty over children's futures. "We realize that the implementation of this regulation may cause some discomfort at first. Children may complain and parents may be confused about how to respond to their children's complaints," Hafid said.



[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/06/indonesia-social-media-ban-children



That's right you brats! (Score:3)

by GeekWithAKnife ( 2717871 )

If you wanna do sneaky shit you're gonna have to go outside!

Sign up now to my new service DroneBook(TM) - which is *not* a social media platform due to its antisocial nature - to record outside activities, comment and send to all your friends! It's FREE!

Re: (Score:1)

by ElderOfPsion ( 10042134 )

> record outside activities, comment and send to all your friends! It's FREE!

NextDoor.com will sue you :)

Re: (Score:2)

by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )

Just like Australia.

Re: (Score:3)

by MightyMartian ( 840721 )

Freedom was never the same after they banned five year olds from buy porn magazines.

Re: (Score:2)

by unixisc ( 2429386 )

I am no fan of islamic countries, but in this regard, Indonesia is no different from countries like Australia and France

Re: (Score:2)

by test321 ( 8891681 )

It is currently in force only in Australia and China and under consideration in France (pending Senate approval), Spain and Italy (no vote yet), Greece, Denmark, Romania, and Norway (under consideration).

Re: (Score:2)

by test321 ( 8891681 )

Also New Zealand (under consideration). And obviously in force in Indonesia.

Re: (Score:2)

by quenda ( 644621 )

Indonesia, a country with such extreme relious ideology, the drinking age is 21.

The world needs to come to a consensus (Score:2)

by xack ( 5304745 )

All these patchwork legislation needs to be joined up, we need to make an internet that is both safe for children and also that they don't get put in a cesspit on their 16th birthday. I first got internet when I was 13 in and I grew up with a mostly unfiltered internet that exposed me to a lot of messed up stuff like goatse, violent hentai and gore a lot of it posted on Slashdot as well, it really affected my mental health and I still suffer from really bad dreams over 20 years later.

As long as there is

Re: (Score:2)

by KiloByte ( 825081 )

There's plenty of mirrors. For example .ax, .es, .mx, .fr, .lol, .info are all online and not domain-squatted.

Re: (Score:1)

by sarren1901 ( 5415506 )

Would you please just fuck off already? Seriously. We're all tired of hearing your anti-America screeds. Does America have problems? Absolutely! And so does every other fucking country in this world.

Some are better then others, but overall, USA is still a wonderful place to live, raise a family and enjoy life. Has it gotten harder in the past two decades? Sure. Can it get better going forward? That remains to be seen. No empire last forever.

If enough of the USA population is unhappy, they will get out and v

Re: (Score:2)

by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )

If enough of the USA population is unhappy, they will get out and vote in November.

But the unhappy people never seem to vote.

Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

by noshellswill ( 598066 )

You support know-nothing memes, prevent maturation of children and grasp for power without constraint. VPN is not a loophole, but a breathing-tube for liberty in a statist culture. You're really quite a toxic collectivist using "think of the children" memes to for'ard your own agenda. Gawd damn you.

Re: (Score:2)

by sarren1901 ( 5415506 )

And yet here still you are! You some how survived. Oh my!

I grew up with unfettered access to the Internet and I can't see how it's negatively affected me, other then providing me access to knowledge on any topic I could want to find out about.

Now, that doesn't mean the Internet I grew up on is the Internet we have today. Social media really is a parasite. If glam magazines from the 90s were hurting our youth's self-image (especially young ladies, apparently), then social media REALLY has to be doing a numbe

Halfway there. (Score:2)

by Gravis Zero ( 934156 )

Now they just need to bad social media for people that are at least 16 and they will have fixed the problems with social media.

This can't make Zuckerberg happy (Score:1)

by ConstantineXI ( 10114656 )

Because he just lost his Indonesian pedophiles!

raise the age (Score:2)

by FudRucker ( 866063 )

Ban social media for everyone under 100 years old, that way everybody has to socialize the old fashioned way by conversation with real people in person

Re: (Score:2)

by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )

Do you want Covid? Because that's exactly how you get it.

Re: (Score:2)

by sarren1901 ( 5415506 )

Most of us survived. If you are scared of the possibility you may catch covid, or worse, then go seal yourself in a bubble. The rest of us accept life comes with dangers and we just got to do our best. Same as it's ever been.

Re: (Score:2)

by sarren1901 ( 5415506 )

Don't worry, I'm sure they are working towards killing Internet platforms immunity for user content. When that happens, most small operators will not be able to offer that up, as they won't be able to insure it's free of whatever it is government wants censored at any given moment in time.

Facebook will stick around with more restrictions. It won't go away. Besides, do you really think the government doesn't monitor the largest network of morons, ahem, citizens in the world? They definitely do.

I'll take the

Window Title Bar (Score:2)

by gbr ( 31010 )

What is with every app wanting to use the window title bar for tab or buttons, or other garbage?

No More Anonymity On The Internet (Score:2)

by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 )

Everyone is piling into the age and Know Your Customer requirements.

This is the end of anonymity on the internet. I guess it might be an opportunity for the dark web to become mainstream, but I doubt it. Especially if they do age or KYC verification for the OS.

Re: (Score:2)

by unixisc ( 2429386 )

That is the real objective of these moves. It's not about the "children", which is already there in most OS settings. It's about eliminating anonymity, so that governments can retaliate against people for dissenting views

Re: (Score:2)

by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )

I'd rather not know any of my customers, but I need them to put food on my table.

Re: No More Anonymity On The Internet (Score:2)

by FudRucker ( 866063 )

I think you're right

they want to do all the criminal things they like while the rest of the population are like blind sheep waiting to be sheered and slaughtered

The USA started out as a federal republic but has since degenerated into a kleprocratic neo-feudalist banana-republic run by a criminal mafia oligarchy

Re: (Score:2)

by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 )

Before you get too wrapped up in your American hatred, I'd like to point out that the article is about Indonesia. I'd also like to point out that similar initiatives are also underway in The UK, The EU, Australia, China... The United States is not alone in this overreach. In fact, they are rather late to the party.

The end of anonymity on the internet is a global phenomenon.

At about 2500 A.D., humankind discovers a computer problem that *must* be
solved. The only difficulty is that the problem is NP complete and will
take thousands of years even with the latest optical biologic technology
available. The best computer scientists sit down to think up some solution.
In great dismay, one of the C.S. people tells her husband about it. There
is only one solution, he says. Remember physics 103, Modern Physics, general
relativity and all. She replies, "What does that have to do with solving
a computer problem?"
"Remember the twin paradox?"
After a few minutes, she says, "I could put the computer on a very
fast machine and the computer would have just a few minutes to calculate but
that is the exact opposite of what we want... Of course! Leave the
computer here, and accelerate the earth!"
The problem was so important that they did exactly that. When
the earth came back, they were presented with the answer:

IEH032 Error in JOB Control Card.