PP TUNAS and the First Month's Lessons: Testing Commitment and Reality

Child protection regulations in the digital space are now officially in effect. Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025 on the Governance of Electronic System Operators in Child Protection, better known as PP TUNAS, has been in force since 28 March 2026. For the first time in the history of Indonesian digital policy, the state is present in a space that has previously been allowed to grow without limits. This is a step that should be welcomed with seriousness, not just with applause. Ensuring that this step does not stop at mere declarations is our collective responsibility, because good intentions without a strong system will not reach the children who need that protection. PP TUNAS was born from a collective awareness that the digital space is not a neutral space for children. It can be an extraordinary learning space, as well as a space full of traps if left without governance that favours the best interests of the child. BPS 2024 data records that 51.19 per cent of children aged 5 to 6 years in Indonesia already access the internet. UNICEF data notes that half of Indonesian children who actively use the internet have been exposed to online sexual content. Half of them. As many as 42 per cent of them admit to feeling scared or uncomfortable when using the internet, but do not know who to talk to. This is not about children who are not smart enough to protect themselves. This is about a digital ecosystem that has not yet been designed to protect them. Behind these numbers are real faces. KPAI records that child suicide cases in Indonesia are the highest in Southeast Asia during the 2023 to 2025 period, with the most victims aged 13 to 15 years. International data from NCMEC 2024 places Indonesia among the countries with the highest number of online child sexual exploitation cases in the world, with more than 1.4 million cases recorded in one year. These numbers are not to frighten. These numbers are the reason why PP TUNAS is not just an ordinary regulation, but a moral decision that has been too late to take and now must be implemented earnestly, not half-heartedly. Many understand PP TUNAS only as a rule prohibiting children from playing on social media. Its scope is far broader and deeper than that understanding. This regulation places children, anyone under 18 years old who interacts with digital services, as full subjects of protection. Not just users who need to be restricted, but individuals who are entitled to a safe, private digital space appropriate to their developmental stage. PP TUNAS stipulates that every platform operating in Indonesia must design its services prioritising child safety from the outset, not just adding protection features as an add-on. Platforms are prohibited from collecting children’s location data, prohibited from profiling children for advertising purposes, and required to activate the highest privacy settings automatically for all child accounts. Parents are positioned as the main partners in protection, not just parties informed after something happens. Every child account, at every age level, requires parental consent to be active. This is a major shift from the protection model that has so far been reactive to an active and structured model. Such a large paradigm shift will not happen just because a government regulation is issued. It requires a supporting ecosystem that is as strong as the regulation itself.