YouTube Strengthens Child and Adolescent Protection in Line with PP Tunas
YouTube Indonesia is strengthening its commitment to protecting young users in the digital space alongside the implementation of Government Regulation (PP) Number 17 of 2025 on the Governance of Electronic System Providers in Child Protection, or PP Tunas.
Rather than applying total access bans, YouTube opts for an integrated and age-based protection features approach.
“This approach provides incentives for the creation of integrated protection features and age-appropriate digital experiences for young people, rather than implementing comprehensive bans,” YouTube Indonesia stated in an official release, quoted on Monday (30/3).
YouTube positions parents as the primary controllers through various technical features. One of them is the viewing duration setting on YouTube Shorts, which allows parents to limit watching time to zero minutes.
In addition, YouTube is introducing AI-based age verification technology. This age inference technology is scheduled to launch well before the PP Tunas implementation deadline in March 2027.
This integration also includes the Family Link app, which enables parents to:
For users under 18 years old, YouTube has activated automatic protection features to support digital wellbeing, including:
YouTube assesses that a comprehensive account restriction for users under 16 years old poses risks. This is considered to potentially cause young users to lose access to integrated safety features and parental supervision within the system.
In addition to feature updates, YouTube Indonesia is also focusing on strengthening digital literacy through collaborations with various parties, such as:
In the future, YouTube encourages the government to continue involving stakeholders in developing adaptive and risk-based policies.
YouTube also expresses its readiness to follow the self-assessment mechanism in the implementation of PP Tunas to maintain child digital safety standards in Indonesia.
DKI fully supports the central government’s policies, particularly those related to protecting children from potential negative impacts due to age-inappropriate consumption.
Early exposure to social media risks disrupting emotional regulation, self-identity formation, and reducing the quality of real social interactions.
In early to early adolescent ages, children still need concrete experiences to develop cognitive, social-emotional, and psychomotor abilities.
Observers say this regulation has weak enforcement because monitoring devices are lacking and there are integrity issues.
The implementation of digital space access restrictions for children under 16 years old is deemed ineffective if not accompanied by the provision of alternative digital spaces.
A too harsh or one-sided approach to limiting social media use risks making children rebel.
Early exposure to social media risks disrupting emotional regulation, self-identity formation, and reducing the quality of real social interactions.
Appropriate restrictions, not total bans, can reduce risks of overstimulation from instant content, social anxiety from frequent self-comparisons, and exposure to dangers.
PP Tunas can serve as a shield for parents to protect their children from the dangers of excessive social media use.
The policy of restricting social media for children through Ministry of Communication and Digital Regulation Number 9 of 2026 is seen as an important step to protect children from various risks in the digital space.