Communications Minister Inaugurates DARA, Guidance Service for Game-Addicted Children

Jakarta — Indonesia’s Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid officially inaugurated a game addiction guidance and consultation feature called the Digital Addiction Response Assistant (DARA) on Friday, 27 February 2026.

Meutya stated that DARA emerged as a response to public concern regarding the increasing prevalence of game addiction among children and adolescents.

“Our younger generation is increasingly becoming unproductive due to addiction to games,” Meutya said at Sarinah Mall in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Friday, 27 February 2026.

In this regard, Meutya emphasised that the government continues to support the gaming industry as it plays a role in promoting creativity and forms part of the national digital ecosystem.

The challenge is that children still struggle to limit themselves when playing games. This situation has been exacerbated by the fact that Indonesia previously had relatively lenient game regulations.

Meutya explained that the Communications Ministry has launched the Indonesia Game Rating System (IGRS) as a guideline for the game rating system. Subsequently, the government has introduced services for children who are already experiencing game addiction.

More than 30 per cent of senior secondary school students are experiencing game addiction at concerning levels. Globally, the prevalence of game addiction ranges between 1.96 and 3 per cent of the world’s population.

Approximately 3 per cent of the world’s population suffers from game addiction, with the highest risk among adolescent males and young adults. Given that global figures show a prevalence of up to 3 per cent, Indonesia has the potential to make a significant contribution to this figure.