As social media becomes inseparable from the daily lives of Indonesian children and teenagers, the country faces an increasingly urgent dilemma: how prepared is Indonesia to protect young people in a digital environment that evolves faster than its regulatory capacity? While countries such as Australia are experimenting with strict age limits on social media use, Indonesia’s more pressing question is not whether it should emulate such bans, but whether its digital ecosystem is mature enough to safeguard minors at all.

The scale of Indonesia’s digital engagement is striking. DataReportal’s Digital 2025 Indonesia report records 331 million mobile connections, 230 million internet users, and 180 million social media identities as of late 2025. With social media penetration at 62.9 percent, digital platforms are deeply embedded in everyday life. Services such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X formally restrict access to users aged 13 and above, yet younger children routinely bypass these rules.

In a country where WhatsApp dominates daily communication and Facebook accounts for more than 80 percent of market share, according to StatCounter GlobalStats, social media is no longer optional infrastructure; it is a social and cultural necessity.

Understanding why young Indonesians are so drawn to these platforms requires looking beyond technology. The Uses and Gratifications Theory, developed by Elihu Katz, Jay Blumler, and Michael Gurevitch, explains that audiences actively use media to satisfy emotional, psychological, and social needs. A 2024 survey found that Indonesian internet users primarily go online to maintain social connections and avoid missing out on developments around them.

For children and adolescents, these motivations are even stronger. Social media becomes a space for belonging, identity formation, and self-expression. Any future restriction must therefore contend not only with technical enforcement, but also with the psychological realities shaping young users’ behavior.

Despite Indonesia’s rapid adoption of digital platforms, its institutional readiness lags behind. The 2025 IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking places Indonesia 51st out of 69 economies, down from 43rd a year earlier. Within the Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia ranks 12th out of 14.

The sub-indicators are equally revealing: 62nd in Knowledge, reflecting limited capacity to develop and understand digital technologies; 48th in Technology, measuring infrastructure and regulatory frameworks; and 43rd in Future Readiness, indicating preparedness for digital transformation. These rankings suggest that Indonesia’s enthusiasm for digital participation has outpaced its ability to manage digital risks.

The consequences of this gap are increasingly visible. A UNICEF poll of Indonesians aged 14–24 found that 45 percent had experienced cyberbullying. In 2024 alone, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission recorded 41 cases involving minors who were victims of online sexual exploitation and cybercrime. Globally, data from the Cyberbullying Research Center show lifetime online harassment rising sharply, from 33.6 percent in 2016 to 58.2 percent in 2025. Platforms popular among Indonesian youth, particularly Instagram and Facebook, are also those associated with the highest cyberbullying rates worldwide.

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory helps explain why harmful online behavior spreads so quickly. Children and adolescents learn by observing others, especially those who appear rewarded for their actions. Social media accelerates this process, exposing young users to influencers and peers who model aggressive communication, risky behavior, unrealistic lifestyles, and viral challenges that prioritize attention over responsibility. Without effective guidance from parents, educators, or institutions, such behaviors can be normalized and replicated.

Even if Indonesia recognizes the urgency of protecting young users, translating concern into effective regulation remains difficult. Michel Foucault’s conception of power is instructive here. Power does not reside solely with governments; it circulates through institutions, markets, and discourse. In the digital age, major technology companies exercise immense influence over infrastructure, social norms, and public behavior.

Countries with strong regulatory capacity and economic leverage can challenge these firms. Indonesia, as a developing economy with weaker digital competitiveness, operates from a far less equal position when dealing with multinational technology corporations whose financial and political power often exceeds that of individual states.

This imbalance complicates any move toward social media restrictions. Effective enforcement requires reliable digital identification systems, transparent algorithms, robust data governance, and regulators capable of holding platforms accountable. Indonesia currently lacks many of these foundations. Imposing restrictions without them risks driving young users toward circumvention, unregulated platforms, or hidden digital spaces that lie beyond meaningful oversight.

The central challenge, then, is not whether Indonesia should replicate restrictive policies adopted elsewhere, but how it can build the digital environment necessary to protect children in the first place. Responsibility cannot rest with the government alone. Parents must improve their digital literacy and recognize that supervising online activity is as critical as monitoring physical environments.

Schools must integrate digital citizenship into curricula, teaching cyber safety, critical thinking, and responsible online behavior. Policymakers, meanwhile, must strengthen national digital capacity, demand greater transparency from technology firms, and invest in regulatory and technological infrastructure that prioritizes child safety.

Indonesia’s digital future does not need to mirror Australia’s. But it must be grounded in a clear-eyed assessment of its own vulnerabilities. Only by strengthening knowledge systems, regulatory frameworks, and societal awareness can Indonesia seriously consider stronger protections for children, including age-based restrictions.

Safeguarding young Indonesians online is not merely a technological challenge; it is a political, educational, and moral responsibility shared by the state, schools, and families.

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Sidarta Prassetyo is a PhD student in Media and Communication at Airlangga University.

The views expressed in the article are those of the author.

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