Six Months of Child‑Protection Regulation, 28 Million Children’s Accounts Secured

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - The Ministry of Communication and Digital reports that 28 million accounts belonging to Indonesian children have been protected across eight high‑risk digital platforms, following six months of implementing Government Regulation No. 17/2025 on Electronic System Governance for Child Protection (PP Tunas).

The platforms are YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X (Twitter), Bigo Live, and Roblox.

Communication and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid said the protection of children’s accounts reflects joint efforts between the government and digital platforms.

“PP Tunas has been implemented for six months since the issuance of Ministerial Regulation No. 9 in March 2026. Since then, 28 million Indonesian children’s accounts have been protected from various risks,” Minister Meutya said at a press conference at the ministry’s office in Jakarta on Monday, September 14, 2026.

She said Roblox has made significant changes, particularly feature modifications that are noticeable to the public, especially parents. Roblox has updated its child‑protection features, including age‑based user classification and removing chat functions with strangers.

“Roblox also uses age‑estimation technology that is stricter than other platforms because it relies on facial recognition,” she said.

Although PP Tunas has been in effect for six months, not all platforms have shown equal commitment.

For example, X has locked 250,000 children’s accounts, far below the estimated 7 million children on the platform. Minister Meutya said this effort does not reflect the spirit of child protection in Indonesia.

She added that X does not have a representative office in Indonesia, making coordination, monitoring, and evaluation difficult.

“We hope X will soon open a representative office in Indonesia to facilitate monitoring of its PP Tunas implementation,” she said.

Regarding Meta platforms--Facebook, Instagram, and Threads--the company last reported blocking 184,000 Facebook accounts in May 2026. No updates have been submitted since then. The estimated number of children on Meta platforms is around 33 million.

“The reported figure is far below the estimated number of children on Meta platforms. We therefore consider Meta to have failed to protect Indonesian children,” she said.

As for YouTube, the platform has taken action against 600,000 child‑related accounts, but has not submitted new reports since April 2026. Minister Meutya said the government appreciates YouTube’s introduction of a “safe search” feature, but many children can still access the platform.

“Therefore, we assess that YouTube has not yet fully met its obligations regarding child protection in the digital space,” she said.

TikTok has so far reported only 4.1 million children’s accounts to the government, with no updates in the past four months. “TikTok has not implemented significant feature changes for child protection in accordance with PP Tunas,” she said.

Bigo Live has reported deactivating 9,409 children’s accounts and now requires users to be over 18.

The government concludes that several platforms are not complying with PP Tunas and may face sanctions.

“We have issued warnings, and we can impose measures ranging from administrative fines to termination of access. This may include cutting access to specific features or full access termination,” Minister Meutya said. (Misni Parjiati)