y friends there,” Zafran said of Roblox. His mother, Andina Dwi, said before the ban that he spends as long as four hours on the platform after school, getting up only to charge his phone. “When he plays Roblox, he forgets time,” said Andina, 32, who supports the controls. Indonesia’s social media curbs, which the government says are intended to reduce the risk of cyberbullying and addiction, follow a ban in Australia last year over concerns about social media’s potential harm to young people’s mental health. In the United States, where social media companies face thousands of lawsuits over their platform designs, a court on Thursday found Meta and Alphabet’s YouTube created addictive products that caused harm to young people. Indonesia has also designated platforms, including X, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, as high-risk. Technical guidance lacking As the deadline approached, neither parents nor children had much idea what would happen – whether all under-16 users would find their accounts automatically deactivated, or whether there would be a new verification process. “The policy is all concepts, but the technical guidance is still lacking,” said Ika Idris, a social media expert at Monash University who has children, aged 11 and 16, who use Roblox. Meutya Hafid, Indonesia’s communications and digital minister, said this month the deactivation of current accounts of under-16s would take place gradually. Late on Friday, Meutya told reporters that X and TikTok would start deactivating accounts on Saturday, and that Roblox would allow only users under 13 to play offline. She did not say whether these platforms were no longer considered high-risk, nor did she provide any details about the deactivation. High-risk platforms must adjust their minimum age requirements and deactivate the accounts of underage users, and independently assess the risks they pose, according to a ministerial decree published this week. Platforms are determined to be high-risk if they fulfil criteria such as the possibility of talking to strangers, addictive qualities and psychological risks, the ministry said. Platforms take steps to comply Roblox will introduce content and communications controls for players under 16 in Indonesia to comply with the country’s new social media regulations, the company said this week, but gave no details of the controls. Berni Moestafa, Meta’s head of public policy, Indonesia and Philippines, said the company was committed to protecting teens and had launched “Teen Accounts” for Instagram and Facebook in Indonesia, adding that those accounts have built-in protections that address parents’ concerns of who they talk to online, how they spend their time and what content they see. TikTok said it was committed to complying with the regulation, suspends accounts identified as non-compliant to its minimum age rules and has over 50 preset privacy and safety features. “As we move forward, we will take the necessary steps in line with regulatory expectations, while continuing to strengthen our safeguards,” the company said. X said Indonesia’s minimum age requirement “prevents age-restricted social media platforms, including X, from letting people under 16 create or keep an account. It’s not our choice – it’s what Indonesian law requires.” Google said on Friday it had placed safeguards for children and appreciated Indonesia’s “risk-based self assessment approach, which incentivises built-in protections and age-appropriate experiences for youth, as opposed to a blanket ban.” Removing accounts of under-16s on YouTube would create a “knowledge divide” in a country of 280 million people, Google said. Concerns over effectiveness Indonesia announced penalties last year for non-compliance with the protections, including sanctions and, in the worst cases, a block on the platform. But experts remain sceptical about the measures’ implementation. “There are concerns this won’t be effective,” said Wahyudi Djafar, tech analyst and director of think-tank Catalyst Policy Works, adding that children can still bypass the restrictions. “The implementation is complicated.” Internet penetration in Indonesia reached 80.66 per cent in 2025, according to a survey by the Indonesia Internet Service Providers’ Association. The survey showed it was 87.8 per cent among “Gen Z” users aged 13 to 28. “I don’t watch anything strange… just normal things,” said 10-year-old Andaru Brahma Satria, about potentially losing access to YouTube. “I feel just a little bit sad.” Reporting by Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Stanley Widianto. Editing by Kate Mayberry. All courtesy of Reuters. Further reading: Will social media age laws rewrite the rules of trend-led retail?