Jakarta. The Indonesian government has said that the popular video game platform Roblox would have an offline mode for kids under 13 as the country’s online child protection rule kicks in.

The calendar has flipped to March 28. That means Indonesia's restrictions on social media for under-16s have officially taken effect.

Communications Minister Meutya Hafid told a press briefing on Friday night that some of the “high-risk” platforms had complied with the rules, although to different degrees. Roblox is listed among the companies that have reached what she called “a partially cooperative attitude”. 

“Roblox has informed us of its plans to adjust its features for minors under 13, who can only play the offline [mode],” Meutya said.

She did not say when this Roblox offline mode would go live.

“Communications are still ongoing that online access for [Roblox] users under a certain age will be disabled.” 

Meutya said: “We still ask for [Roblox] to comprehensively comply with the rules.”

Asked about the verification technologies for new users to avoid kids lying about their age, Meutya said Jakarta would like to “focus on the [platforms’] compliance” for now. She went on to say that the ban would safeguard children’s data. 

“Kids can’t tell the difference between whether the data can be shared [online] or not. Studies and legal cases abroad have shown that children's data are exploited for monetization reasons,” Meutya said.

Roblox — developed by the California-based company of the same name — has recently stated it would introduce “additional controls on content and communication for players under the age of 16 in Indonesia”.

The government reported that 48% of Indonesian internet users are under 18 years old. Over 80% of Indonesian kids spend 7 hours on the internet each day. Some 35.57% of young children can already access the internet.

Roblox has millions of users in Indonesia.

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