Kemkomdigi says 'Age Assurance' for PSE is crucial for age verification

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs (Kemkomdigi) has revealed that the ‘Age Assurance’ technology applied by Electronic System Providers (PSE) plays a crucial role in verifying the ages of users of their services in line with PP Tunas.

Policy Analyst Senior (Analis Kebijakan Madya) of the Directorate General for Digital Space Oversight, Kemkomdigi, Nanci Laura Sitinjak, said that the appropriate Age Assurance technology is believed to address age-verification gaps that are still manual and can be exploited by children to open accounts for digital services that do not reflect their real age.

“Through PP Tunas, we are pushing for age verification or age assurance that is proportional. Because we are still identifying that if only ages are self-declared, a child might state themselves as 18, so there remains a gap,” Nanci said at a digital-literacy event for parents organised by Meta in Jakarta on Friday.

Thus, age verification will no longer be manual, relying on data entered by users, but will also be strengthened by a system developed by the PSE.

According to Nanci, one of the digital platforms with the largest user bases in Indonesia, such as Meta, has stated that it can already implement similar technology to carry out age assurance.

Besides age assurance, to strengthen the implementation of PP Tunas, another element platforms must prepare is education.

Particularly education for users who are parents to build a shared understanding of child protection in the digital space.

To reinforce platforms’ commitment to keeping a child-friendly digital space, Kemkomdigi also participates in providing educational spaces for both parents and children. One example is the digital-literacy programme spread across many cities in Indonesia.

The digital-literacy programme plays a role in introducing PP Tunas and shaping appropriate digital parenting understanding to keep children safe while browsing the internet.

Nanci said the programme operates under the auspices of Kemkomdigi’s Human Resources Development Agency (Badan Pengembangan SDM Kemkomdigi) and targets vulnerable groups such as parents, older parents, and women.

“These digital-literacy guides accompany parents in developing digital literacy,” Nanci said.