Indonesia plans to issue a regulation to set a minimum age for users of social media, a move aimed at protecting children, its communications minister has said, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The plans also follows Australia’s decision to ban children under 16 from accessing social media, with fines for tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok if they failed to prevent children accessing their platforms, the report added.

Minister Meutya Hafid did not say what the minimum age would be in Indonesia. Her remarks, made late on Monday, came after Meutya discussed the plan with President Prabowo Subianto.

“We discussed how to protect children in digital space,” she said in a video uploaded on the YouTube channel of the president’s office. “The president said to carry on with this plan. He is very supportive on how this kind of child protection will be done in our digital space,” she reportedly said.

Internet penetration in Indonesia, a country of about 280 million people, reached 79.5 percent last year, a survey of 8,700 people by the Indonesian internet service providers’ association showed.

According to the report, the survey also showed 48 percent of children under 12 had access to the internet, with some respondents of that age group using Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

The survey showed internet penetration was 87 percent among “Gen Z” users, or those age 12 to 27.

Meanwhile, in November last year, Australia has approved a social media ban for children aged under 16, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.

The law forces tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok to stop minors logging in or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million), Reuters reported then.

A trial of methods to enforce it will start in January with the ban to take effect in a year, according to the report.

Featured photo credits: generated using AI tools

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