Jakarta. Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, will not allow under-16s in Indonesia to create or keep an account, as Southeast Asia’s biggest digital economy imposes social media restrictions.

Indonesia’s social media curbs for under-16s have officially kicked off on Saturday (March 28). The government is starting with the platforms that they have designated as “high-risk”, including X.

In a press briefing late Friday night, Communications Minister Meutya Hafid announced that X had fully complied with the rules.

“X has announced that it would enforce a minimum user age of 16 in Indonesia. They have published this on their help center,” Meutya told reporters in Jakarta.

“They [X] actually asked us to give them more time. But we appreciate their commitment to start identifying and deactivating accounts [owned by minors] starting tomorrow [March 28].”

In its help center page, X said the age requirement was “not our choice — it’s what Indonesian law requires”.  If X identifies a user as younger than 16 years old, the person won’t be able to access their account until they meet the minimum requirement and receive a notice to verify their age.

Indonesia had given platforms a full year to adjust since late March 2025. Meutya did not comment much on the age verification technologies, saying that the government is focusing on boosting the platform’s compliance for now.

"The government has the authority to take enforcement measures in line with our regulations. That includes imposing sanctions," Meutya warned rule-breaking platforms.

Digital insights website DataReportal wrote that X had 25.2 million users in Indonesia as of early 2025. The government reported that 48% of Indonesian internet users are minors under 18. Over 80% of Indonesian children spend 7 hours online daily. Some 35.57% of younger kids can access the internet.

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