Using Parents' Email Makes Children's TikTok-Instagram Accounts Hard to Block

The government has recently implemented Government Regulation No. 17 of 2025, or PP Tunas, starting from 28 March 2026. The regulation limits children under 16 years old from accessing social media. In this initial period, restrictions apply to eight social media platforms: X, BigoLive, TikTok, Roblox, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and YouTube. However, so far, only X and BigoLive have been declared compliant with the rules. In Indonesia, children using social media is not a new phenomenon. Many children under 16 are known to have accounts. There are also parents who create accounts for their children. One reason is to serve as an album of the child’s journey since they were babies. Several parents whom CNBC Indonesia spoke to admitted to creating social media accounts for their children, such as Instagram and YouTube. The reasons include storing memories and allowing children to use them. “Yes, but managed by parents. For saving memories and to contact parents in urgent situations,” said a mother with two children, a 9-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. Meanwhile, some parents admit to creating accounts for their children due to needs. One of them is for school assignments. “Yes, because they like creating content for TikTok, and for Instagram, there are school tasks that require posting,” explained a mother with a 10-year-old child. Nia, mother of a 9-year-old boy, also created a YouTube account for her child. The reason is that much learning comes from the video-sharing platform, such as vocabulary, topics, and knowledge. Additionally, the child has a hobby and aspiration to become a YouTuber. So the account serves as a tool for him to learn to fulfil what he wants. “As long as it’s still positive and he grows because he has his own goal, vision, and mission, it’s allowed,” she said. For information, Meta’s products—Facebook, Instagram, and Threads—have user age restrictions. In the Help page, Instagram states the minimum age for using the platform is 13 years or the official minimum age in each country. In Google’s Transparency Report page, the minimum age for YouTube users is stated as 13 years. This can be excepted provided parental and legal guardian permission is given.