Indonesia deactivates 4.7 million under-16 TikTok and YouTube accounts

Indonesia has pushed TikTok and YouTube to deactivate about 4.7 million accounts held by users under 16, one of the clearest signs yet that Jakarta is willing to use regulation to force major platforms to enforce child-safety rules at scale. Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid said TikTok removed about 4.1 million accounts and YouTube another 600,000 as the government began rolling out a sweeping new online-child-protection regime.

The deletions were triggered by a March rule that requires high-risk platforms to block or deactivate accounts tied to children under 16. Implementation began gradually on March 28, after platforms were given a three-month window to submit self-assessment reports and start removing affected accounts. The policy sits under Ministerial Regulation No. 9 of 2026 and Government Regulation No. 17 of 2025, known as PP Tunas, and it covers not only YouTube and TikTok but also Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox. Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs is still reviewing those self-assessment reports.

The government has said the purpose is to reduce exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction. Hafid has framed the policy as more than a delay on children’s access, saying the aim is to change platform behavior itself. That distinction matters: the state is not just asking parents to click fewer settings, it is compelling companies to redesign access rules for a broad slice of Indonesia’s social and gaming ecosystem.

Officials have already shown they are prepared to escalate. Indonesian authorities summoned Meta and Google over alleged noncompliance, and warned TikTok and Roblox that they could be called in and face administrative sanctions if they failed to comply. Indonesia has also cast itself as the first non-Western country to impose restrictions of this kind, a claim that gives the policy added symbolic weight in Southeast Asia and beyond.

A ministry-linked estimate says the rules could affect about 70 million children, a scale that makes Indonesia’s move larger than most national experiments in youth online safety. The policy lands as other governments tighten their own rules: Australia’s under-16 social-media ban has already produced about 4.7 million deactivations or removals, and Britain has announced broader restrictions that would also reach gaming and live-streaming platforms. TikTok and YouTube did not immediately comment on the latest deactivations.