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View all search resultsIndonesian children brace themselves for social media ban
The primary schooler is one of about 70 million children the government is hoping to shield from the threats of cyberbullying, pornography and internet addiction.
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Bradley Rowen Liu, an 11-year-old boy learning Python, a programming language, watches a video on social media on his smartphone as he leaves the coding academy with his father Handri Liu in Jakarta on March 25, 2026. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
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radley Rowen Liu, 11, wonders what he will do with himself once the social media ban for under-16s enters into force on Saturday. As things stand, he spends most of his free time on TikTok.
The primary schooler is one of about 70 million children the government is hoping to shield from the threats of cyberbullying, pornography and internet addiction.
Several countries have proposed teen social media bans since Australia's landmark move in December to stop users under 16 from holding accounts on many popular platforms.
But Indonesia is among the first to act as concerns grow over the impact of such apps on kids' mental and physical wellbeing.
YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox -- deemed "high-risk" platforms by authorities in the Southeast Asian nation -- will from Saturday start deactivating underage accounts.
Bradley, who says he can easily spend five hours a day on TikTok at weekends, told AFP he worries the ban will leave him driftless.
"Maybe I'll do some other activities," he shrugged, without much conviction.
