Indonesia is enforcing one of the toughest child protection laws in the world for online platforms. The results are now starting to show. TikTok and YouTube together have deactivated more than 4.7 million accounts belonging to children under the age of 16. The government says this is progress. It also says the job is far from finished.
Indonesia’s Communications and Digital Minister, Meutya Hafid, announced the figures late on Thursday the 25th of June. TikTok accounted for the larger share. The short video platform, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, shut down 4.1 million underage accounts. YouTube, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, removed a further 600,000. Hafid said she expected other platforms to follow quickly.
The legal basis for these removals is a government regulation known as PP Tunas, introduced in late 2024. It stands for Government Regulation No. 17 of 2025 on the Governance of Electronic Systems in Protecting Children. Under this framework, social media platforms classified as high risk are required to identify and deactivate accounts held by users under the age of 16. The implementing rules came into force on the 28th of March this year. The list of platforms covered includes TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox.
The scale of this effort is significant. Indonesia has a population of 287 million people. More than 174 million Indonesians hold Facebook accounts alone, the fourth largest national pool of users anywhere in the world. Indonesia also has the largest number of TikTok users outside of China. The country’s young population means that millions of those accounts belong to teenagers and children. The minister was clear about why the law was needed. “Our children face increasingly real threats,” Hafid said when the policy was first announced. “From exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud, and most importantly, addiction. The government is here so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giant of algorithms.”
TikTok was the first platform to begin reporting its deactivation numbers publicly. By the 28th of April, it had already shut down 1.7 million child accounts. The minister praised the company for being the first to demonstrate that its commitment had translated into concrete action. The latest figures show that number has now risen to 4.1 million. The pace of removal accelerated considerably as TikTok’s internal systems for identifying underage users improved.
See Also: Six months on, Australia’s ban on children using social media is not working as planned
YouTube moved more slowly. In the early weeks after enforcement began, Google was among the platforms the ministry described as not yet meeting the requirements. By late June the picture had changed. YouTube confirmed the removal of 600,000 accounts.
Not all platforms moved as quickly. When enforcement formally began on the 28th of March, only X and Bigo Live were classified as fully compliant with the regulation. TikTok and Roblox were listed as partially compliant at that point. Facebook, Instagram, Threads and YouTube had not yet met the requirements. The government sent formal warnings. Indonesia summoned Meta and Google to explain their delays. A second notice was issued, warning of sanctions if compliance did not improve.
As reported, the government has shown it is willing to act against companies that fail to comply. Indonesia has a history of blocking platforms that do not follow its rules. It blocked TikTok briefly in 2023 over concerns about content. It has previously threatened to suspend access to Facebook and other services when legal disputes arose. Technology companies operating in the country know that the government’s warnings carry real consequences.
Child safety experts broadly welcomed the policy but raised questions about how it works in practice. Most platforms currently rely on users to enter their date of birth when creating an account. A child can easily enter a false birthdate. Unless platforms use more reliable systems to verify age, the numbers being deactivated may represent only a fraction of the children actually using the services. The minister has said she expects platforms to develop better tools for age verification. She has not specified a deadline.
There is also a broader question about what protection actually means for children who remain online. Removing an account does not stop a child from creating a new one with a false age. It does not change the kind of content those platforms recommend once a child is logged in. Advocacy groups working on child online safety say these issues require attention alongside any age-based account rule.
Indonesia is watching what other countries do. Australia banned children under 16 from social media in December last year but a new study found limited impact in the first six months. Indonesia has chosen a different enforcement model, placing the full legal burden on platforms rather than on parents or children. The government believes this makes it harder for companies to avoid responsibility.
The minister said she would continue monitoring compliance weekly and expected remaining platforms to reach the same standard TikTok and YouTube had now demonstrated.
