Indonesian Regulations Go Global as Wealthy Nations Including Sweden Follow Suit

The Swedish government is expected to tighten regulations regarding social media use for children. A government-appointed commission has recommended increasing the minimum age for social media users from 13 to 15 years old.

Swedish government investigator Lisa Englund Krafft stated that the benefits of unrestricted social media access for children are no longer considered to outweigh the associated risks. “The reasons for imposing such an age limit ultimately outweigh the benefits of maintaining free access to these types of media,” Krafft noted, as reported by Reuters.

In its recommendation, the commission also proposed that social media platforms should be held responsible for verifying user ages, ensuring that the burden of supervision does not rest solely on parents or the government. Currently, Sweden allows children aged 13 to create social media accounts with parental consent.

The Swedish government views excessive social media use as a serious threat to the mental health and development of the younger generation. “We are losing a generation due to the habit of endless scrolling,” said Forss, highlighting that screen time and its impact on adolescents is one of the greatest challenges facing modern society.

This move adds to a growing list of nations restricting children’s access to social media. Australia was the first country in the world to ban children under 16 from using social media through legislation passed last December. Indonesia has also joined this list by implementing restrictions on accounts for children under 16, as stipulated in the PP Tunas regulation. Implementation began on 28 March 2026, with eight platforms already complying with the rules: Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, YouTube, TikTok, and Roblox.

“But we are not stopping at these eight platforms. Because in the digital realm, if we intervene in one or two, they will shift to others,” said the Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, Meutya Hafid, during a press conference in Jakarta last April.

The push to restrict social media for children is also expanding across Europe. In Norway, the government has announced plans to submit a bill to parliament before the end of the year to prohibit social media use for children under the age of 16.