Medan, Indonesia – Because the mom of an 18-month-old daughter, Laila Lubis is busy experiencing the challenges and joys of latest motherhood.
Although her daughter solely just lately uttered her first phrases, Lubis is already enthusiastic about how the web and social media might form her growth lengthy into the long run.
“I’ll by no means give a cell phone to my baby,” Lubis, who works as a humanitarian employee in Mandailing Natal, North Sumatra, advised Al Jazeera.
“I can’t permit my daughter to make use of a cell phone for so long as I can. Possibly when my baby is round six years previous, I’ll take into consideration homeschooling her for kindergarten, so she must have entry to the web for that.”
Throughout Indonesia, numerous households are having related discussions amongst themselves as the federal government prepares to introduce a minimal age for utilizing social media.
Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Meutya Hafid first floated the plans final month, as a part of an effort to spice up baby safety insurance policies within the archipelago of some 280 million individuals.
Although the federal government has but to announce a selected age restrict, officers have pressured the necessity for stronger regulation to guard minors from “bodily, psychological, or ethical perils”.
Indonesia’s bid comes on the heels of an analogous effort in neighbouring Australia, which in November grew to become the primary nation to introduce a ban on under-16s from accessing social media.
Below Australian laws, social media platforms equivalent to Fb, TikTok and Instagram face fines of as much as $32m in the event that they fail to implement the age necessities.
Prematurely of the introduction of its legislation, Jakarta has introduced its intention to impose interim baby safety tips on social media corporations whereas the federal government drafts laws.
Lubis mentioned whereas the ban has but to come back to fruition, she believes it’s optimistic that the federal government has kickstarted dialogue about maintaining kids secure on-line.
“I consider that there are extra negatives somewhat than positives for kids utilizing social media and the web, particularly very younger kids,” she mentioned.
The potential ban is the most recent in a collection of efforts by the Indonesian authorities to rein in Huge Tech corporations.
In October, Indonesian authorities banned gross sales of Apple’s iPhone 16 and the Google Pixel over the businesses’ failure to adjust to laws mandating that smartphones supply no less than 40 % of their components regionally.
In 2022, the federal government threatened to dam Google, Fb, Twitter and Instagram if they didn’t register with the Ministry of Communication, although the businesses had been spared from the ban after signing up earlier than the deadline.
Authorities additionally blocked well-liked streaming platform Netflix from 2016 to 2020 amid fears that it promoted “inappropriate content material”, together with pornography, and briefly blocked video-sharing platform TikTok in 2018.
“In a method, the difficulty does replicate a broader supply of rigidity between Jakarta and Huge Tech, and the federal government’s push for better company accountability in sustaining a safe info area for Indonesians,” Gatra Priyandita, a senior analyst in cyber-technology and safety on the Australian Strategic Coverage Institute, advised Al Jazeera.
“By imposing age limits on social media use, the burden of enforcement shifts to tech corporations, making them immediately liable for compliance and potential fallout,” Priyandita mentioned, including that discussions about proscribing social media have swirled in Indonesia for years, though severe efforts have gained traction solely just lately.
“Authorities have primarily centered on baby exploitation, radical narratives, and different dangerous content material,” he mentioned.
Whereas Australia’s laws broke new floor, Indonesia’s potential ban would have an effect on much more individuals.
About 139 million Indonesians use social media and nearly half of kids under the age of 12 entry platforms equivalent to TikTok, Instagram and Fb, in line with the Indonesia Web Service Supplier Affiliation.
Priyandita mentioned Gen Z customers aged 12 to 27 have the very best web utilization fee in Indonesia, at 87 %, with most of them lively on TikTok and Instagram – each of which boast greater than 110 million customers within the nation.
“Gen Alpha [people born after 2010] are more likely to be extremely proactive customers of social media as effectively. Their departure from these platforms will imply that social media could also be set to lose big numbers of followers,” he mentioned.
As in Australia, the plans to implement a minimal age have additionally raised considerations about privateness and the potential misuse of consumer information.
“Implementing minimal age necessities on social media platforms would necessitate consumer identification, equivalent to driver’s licences or nationwide IDs. This poses vital privateness dangers, significantly for platforms that encourage anonymity, like Reddit, as delicate information may very well be breached or offered,” Priyandita mentioned.
“One different is for the federal government to retailer consumer information whereas platforms merely confirm IDs with out retaining private info. Nevertheless, digital ID techniques carry their very own safety vulnerabilities, as they continue to be inclined to information breaches and misuse.”
Some Indonesians query the necessity for presidency intervention to maintain minors away from well-liked platforms.
Adi Sarwono, a social employee who runs the Busa Pustaka literacy programme for underprivileged kids in Lampung, Sumatra, mentioned social media use amongst younger individuals has each optimistic and damaging points.
“The positives embrace growing kids’s creativity and their communication abilities. Nevertheless, there are damaging issues that social media creates equivalent to affecting focus, inflicting extreme anxiousness, lack of self-confidence, and even sleep problems and bullying,” Sarwono advised Al Jazeera.
Attempting to eradicate or restrict social media use amongst kids could also be tough to attain in an age the place most individuals are on-line, Sarwono mentioned.
“Technological progress shouldn’t be one thing that may be resisted, however it may be used correctly. There’s a want to manage kids’s entry to social media and the timing of after they use it,” he mentioned.
“There additionally must be area to make sure kids are monitored when utilizing social media.”
