If Parents Allow Children to Use Smartphones, Is a Ban on Child Social Media Effective?

JAKARTA — A breakfasting gathering of parents from their children’s schools in East Jakarta on Saturday evening (7 March 2026) revealed a telling disconnect: whilst the parents engaged in conversation, laughter and socialisation, the children were absorbed in the smartphone screens of their parents, each child with one device.

This scenario is commonplace across shopping malls, street vendors, restaurants and within extended families. Parents hand their phones to their children and resume their own activities. The smartphones, previously governed by adult algorithms, now rest in the hands of young children. Unfiltered content circulates freely; children are exposed to scenes that may be inappropriate for their age.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) member Aris Adi Leksono acknowledged this phenomenon. “The KPAI observes this occurrence in many households,” he told Kompas.com on Monday (9 March 2026).

This casual parental approach to smartphone access will undermine Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025 concerning the management and operation of electronic systems for child protection (PP Tunas), which restricts children under 16 years of age from accessing social media and high-risk online content. The Ministry of Digital Communications recently issued Ministerial Regulation Number 9 of 2026 detailing the implementing regulations for PP Tunas.

Regulations designed to protect child development from the harmful effects of negative online content will prove ineffective if parental accounts—which distribute such risky content—remain accessible to their own children.

Aris therefore contends that the primary agents of success for PP Tunas are not the government or electronic system operators, but rather parents and the child’s immediate environment.