inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. The Ministry of Religion Affairs supports the policy of limiting children's use of digital services/social media to 16 years of age to protect them from exposure to pornographic content, cyberbullying, and online gambling.
"We fully support this policy because we are currently facing an emergency situation in child protection, particularly from the threats of pornography, cyberbullying, and online gambling," said Special Staff to the Minister of Religious Affairs, Ismail Cawidu, on Monday (3/9/2026).
Ismail assesses the government's move as an important part of efforts to protect the younger generation from various negative content in the digital space that has the potential to harm children's mental and moral development.
According to him, the age restriction policy also demonstrates Indonesia's seriousness in strengthening child protection in the digital space.
He even stated that Indonesia has the potential to be one of the first countries in the region to implement a stricter age restriction policy, while several countries in Europe are still in the preparation stage.
Ismail explained that Indonesia's digital communication policy has so far adhered to the principle of "openness." In this system, internet service providers are not completely under state control.
"This means that the information circulating is essentially open. The state usually blocks content if it finds content that violates laws and regulations," said Special Staff Ismail.
This differs from several other countries, which implement an information filtering system from the outset before content is publicly accessible.
Previously, the Ministry of Communication and Digital on Friday issued Ministerial Regulation Number 9 of 2026, which regulates restrictions on access by children under 16 to digital platforms.
According to the derivative regulation of Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025 concerning the Governance of Electronic System Implementation for Child Protection (PP Tunas), children under 16 are no longer permitted to have accounts on high-risk digital platforms.
(ad/ndt/pr/rs)
