Medan, Indonesia – As a mother of an 18 -month -old daughter, Laila Lubis is occupied with the challenges and joys of new maternity.
Although her daughter recently pronounced her first words, Lubis is already thinking about how Internet and social media could shape her development for a long time in the future.
“I will never give a mobile phone to my child,” said Lubis, who works as a humanitarian worker at Natal Mandailing, North Sumatra, in Al Jazeera.
“I will not allow my daughter to use a mobile phone as long as possible. Maybe when my child is about six years old, I will think of teaching him at home for kindergarten, so she will have to have internet access for that. »»
Throughout Indonesia, countless families have similar discussions with each other while the government is preparing to introduce a minimum age for the use of social media.
The Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, Meutya Hafid, launched the plans for the first time last month, as part of an effort aimed at stimulating child protection policies in the archipelago of some 280 million people.
Although the government has not yet announced a specific age limit, officials have stressed the need for stronger regulations to protect minors from “physical, mental or moral perils”.
The offer of Indonesia occurs a similar effort in neighboring Australia, which in November became the first country to introduce a ban on under 16 years of access to social media.
Under Australian legislation, social media platforms such as Facebook, Tiktok and Instagram are facing fines of up to $ 32 million if they do not comply with age requirements.
Before the introduction of his law, Jakarta announced his intention to impose provisional directives on child protection on social media societies while the government writes legislation.
Lubis said that although the prohibition is not yet materialized, she thinks it is certain that the government has launched a discussion on the maintenance of children online.
“I believe there are more negatives rather than positive for children using social media and the Internet, especially very young children,” she said.
The potential ban is the last in a series of efforts from the Indonesian government to slow down large technological companies.
In October, Indonesian authorities prohibited sales of Apple’s iPhone 16 and Google Pixel on the failure of companies to comply with regulations forcing that smartphones provide at least 40% of their parts locally.
In 2022, the government threatened to block Google, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram if they did not register with the Ministry of Communication, although companies were spared the prohibition after registering before the date limit.
The authorities also blocked the Netflix popular streaming platform from 2016 to 2020 in the middle of the fear of promoting “inappropriate content”, including pornography, and the briefly blocked Tiktok video sharing platform in 2018.
“In a way, the question reflects a wider source of tension between Jakarta and Big Tech, and government pressure for greater business responsibility in maintaining a secure information space for Indonesians” said Gatra Priyandita, main cyber-technology and security analyst at Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told Al Jazeera.
“By imposing age limits on the use of social media, the application burden is transformed towards technological companies, which makes them directly responsible for compliance and potential benefits,” said Priyanda, adding that Discussions on the restriction of social media have shot Indonesia for years, although serious efforts have only received ground recently.
“The authorities mainly focused on the exploitation of children, radical accounts and other harmful content,” he said.
While Australian legislation has innovated, the potential ban on Indonesia would affect many more people.
About 139 million Indonesians use social media and almost half of children under 12 years of age such as Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook, according to Internet Service Provider Association.
Priyandita said that Gen Z users aged 12 to 27 have the highest rate of use of the Internet in Indonesia, at 87%, most of them active on Tiktok and Instagram – who count both Over 110 million users in the country.
“Gen Alpha [people born after 2010] are probably also very proactive users of social media. Their departure from these platforms will mean that social media may be ready to lose a large number of followers, “he said.
As in Australia, plans to enforce a minimum age have also raised concerns about confidentiality and potential use of user data.
“The application of minimum age requirements on social media platforms would require user identification, such as driving licenses or national IDs. This presents significant risk of confidentiality, in particular for platforms that encourage anonymity, such as Reddit, because sensitive data could be raped or sold, “said Priyandita.
“An alternative is that the government stored user data while platforms simply check IDs without keeping personal information. However, digital identification systems include their own security vulnerabilities, as they remain sensitive to data violations and abusive use. »»
Some Indonesians question the need for government intervention to keep minors away from popular platforms.
Adi Sarwono, a social worker who directs the Busa Pustaka literacy program for disadvantaged children in Lampung, Sumatra, said that the use of social media in young people has positive and negative aspects.
“The positive points include the development of children’s creativity and their communication skills. However, there are negative things that social media create concentration, provoking excessive anxiety, lack of self -confidence, and even sleep and intimidation disorders, “Sarwono told Al Jazeera.
Trying to eradicate or limit the use of social media in children can be difficult to achieve at a time when most people are online, said Sarwono.
“Technological progress is not something that can be resisted, but it can be used judiciously. It is necessary to control children’s access to social media and when they use it, “he said.
“There must also be space to ensure that children are monitored when using social media.”
