Prabowo Wants to Limit Children on Social Media, Facebook’s Parent Company Says It’s Not a Solution
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia –The Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) met with Meta to discuss regulations on child safety on the internet. The parent company of Instagram and Facebook has spoken out regarding last week’s meeting.
Simon Milner, Vice President of Public Policy Asia Pacific for Meta, explained that his party supports regulations on teen safety on the internet. However, he said that restricting access is not the right solution.
“Meta supports regulations related to teen safety in the online world, but restricting access to technology for millions of teenagers in Indonesia is not the right solution,” Milner said in his statement.
He added that transparency is important in making new regulations. According to him, the government has not published the draft regulations openly until now.
Meta encourages the government to share the draft with related parties. In addition to conducting transparent public consultations.
“We appreciate the meeting with the Minister of Communication and Digital yesterday, but we regret that until now the government has not published the draft regulation openly. We encourage the government to share the draft with relevant stakeholders and hold transparent public consultations, so that parents, civil society organizations, and industry players can provide input,” he explained.
Milner said that internet safety regulations must include a comprehensive digital ecosystem approach. The solution that Meta thinks is best for keeping children safe in the digital world is by verifying their age on the app store platform and operating system.
“At the same time, we also believe that this online safety regulation must include a comprehensive digital ecosystem approach. We believe that age verification on the app store and operating system is the best way to support parents and is a more effective solution to keep young users safe in the digital world,” Milner explained.
“Meta is committed to keeping young users safe, and we are not waiting for regulations to do so. We have built various special safety features and provide age-appropriate experiences for young users in our applications, such as Teen Accounts on Instagram which we have launched in Indonesia,” he added.
Asked about the transparency requested by Meta, Minister of Communication and Digital Meutya Hafid only said briefly that the platform had been invited by her party. “We were invited,” she said when met on Tuesday (3/18/2025).
Age restrictions on social media accounts
The Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) is currently drafting regulations on child protection on the internet. The Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) has formed a Team to Strengthen Child Protection Regulations in the Digital Realm.
Meutya explained that the team will work to strengthen regulations, increase supervision and take firm action against dangerous content. That way, it is hoped that children can play in cyberspace more safely.
The steps taken are also in accordance with the direction of President Prabowo Subianto, who emphasized the importance of child protection in the digital space and also instructed related regulations to be completed within 1-2 months or around March-April.
“We cannot let children grow up in a digital environment full of threats. The government is here to ensure they are protected. This team will work to strengthen regulations, increase supervision, and take firm action against dangerous content so that Indonesian children can surf the internet safely,” said Meutya in her statement quoted from the official Komdigi website, Monday (3/1/2025).
SOURCE : CNBC INDONESIA
