Ministry of Religion: Social Media Age Restrictions Protect Children from Pornography to Online Gambling

Jakarta — Indonesia’s Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) has expressed full support for the government’s policy restricting digital media and social media access for children under 16 years old, citing the need to protect young people from exposure to pornographic content, cyberbullying, and online gambling.

“In principle, Kemenag extends full support for this policy because we are currently facing an emergency situation in child protection, particularly from the threats of pornography, cyberbullying, and online gambling,” said Ismail Cawidu, Special Staff to the Minister of Religion, during a press briefing in Jakarta on Monday.

Cawidu assessed that the government’s measure represents an important step in protecting young people from various negative digital content that could damage children’s mental and moral development.

According to Cawidu, the age restriction policy also demonstrates Indonesia’s commitment to strengthening child protection in digital spaces. He noted that Indonesia has the potential to become one of the first nations in the region to implement stricter age limitation policies, whilst several European countries remain in the preparatory stage.

Cawidu explained that Indonesia’s digital communication policy has operated according to an “open sky” principle, whereby internet service providers are not entirely under state control. “This means that information in circulation is essentially open. The state typically only blocks content when violations of applicable legislation are discovered,” he stated.

This contrasts with some other nations that employ information filtering systems implemented by the state before content can be accessed by the public.

Previously, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs issued Ministerial Regulation Number 9 of 2026 on Friday, which establishes access restrictions for children under 16 years old to digital platforms. According to this implementing regulation, derived from Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025 concerning the Governance of Electronic System Operations in Child Protection (PP Tunas), children under 16 years old are no longer permitted to maintain accounts on high-risk digital platforms.

Under the regulation’s implementation, accounts belonging to children under 16 years old on high-risk digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigolive, and Roblox will be deactivated.