inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) has developed a strategy to prevent children's vulnerability to digital radicalism, focusing on the importance of strengthening the role of families, monitoring and regulating technology, creating positive content, and reporting mechanisms to address the increasingly widespread new methods.
Iwan Ristiyanto, Director of Deradicalization at BNPT and Head of the Deradicalization Implementation Coordination Team, stated that BNPT is paying serious attention to the contemporary issue of child radicalization in cyberspace.
"The prevention strategies we can implement include strengthening the role of families, schools, and teachers, monitoring and regulating technology, creating positive content, and reporting and follow-up mechanisms," said Iwan on Friday (11/7/2025).
He further explained that this broad strategy will be implemented in the form of steps that can be implemented in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.
He also emphasized the importance of strengthening the role of families by involving the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection. Meanwhile, for supervision and regulation, Meta, Google, and TikTok will be involved.
He also explained that the vulnerable age range for children targeted is 12-18 years old, a period during which children are searching for their purpose in life.
"These children are in the age of searching for their identity, discovering who they are and their purpose in life. Fluctuating emotions tend to lead to rebellion against authority figures like parents or teachers as part of the process of freedom," he concluded.
According to Iwan, radical groups see these psychosocial conditions as an opportunity. They use cyberspace to recruit new members and offer "online communities" that act as their escape place while also providing them with a sense of confidence and pride.
Thus, concrete steps are needed to be implemented by the Deradicalization Implementation Coordination Team.
(ad/ndt/pr/rs)
