TikTok age restriction in Indonesia

TikTok is raising its minimum age in Indonesia to 16 and says users under that age will lose access under the country’s new child-safety rules. (en.antaranews.com) The change applies in Indonesia, where TikTok said on April 14 that it had adjusted access to comply with Government Regulation No. 17 of 2025, known as PP Tunas, and with guidance from the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, or Komdigi. TikTok said affected users will get notice before the restriction is enforced. (en.antaranews.com) Indonesia’s ministerial rule, Permenkomdigi No. 9 of 2026, was issued on March 6, 2026, and took effect the same day. The government started rolling out account deactivations on March 28 for children under 16 on platforms it classifies as high risk. (peraturan.bpk.go.id, en.tempo.co) Those high-risk services include TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox. Minister Meutya Hafid said the policy was written to limit children’s exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, fraud, and digital addiction. (en.tempo.co, jakartaglobe.id) The rule puts the burden on platforms, not just families, to check ages and redesign services for children. The regulation covers minimum age limits, child-user verification, risk assessment, and repeat reporting to the government. (peraturan.bpk.go.id) TikTok had said on March 28 that it would comply during the PP Tunas transition period while continuing a self-assessment process with Komdigi. At that point, Tempo reported that X and Bigo Live were fully compliant, TikTok and Roblox were partly compliant, and Facebook, Threads, Instagram, and YouTube had not yet met the requirements. (en.tempo.co) By April 14, Antara reported that TikTok had joined Instagram, Facebook, Threads, X, and Bigo Live in the fully compliant group, while Roblox remained partly compliant and YouTube had not shown a commitment to comply. (en.antaranews.com) TikTok said users older than 16 who are wrongly swept up by the restriction will be able to use age verification and an appeal process to restore their accounts. The company also said it has more than 50 preset privacy, safety, and security settings and that 99.1 percent of violating content it removes is taken down before users report it. (en.antaranews.com, en.tempo.co) Indonesia is moving ahead in stages, so the practical change for teenagers is simple: on high-risk platforms, 15 is now too young. TikTok’s update turns that legal standard into an account-level cutoff for one of the country’s biggest apps. (en.tempo.co, en.antaranews.com)