Indonesia will impose interim child protection guidelines on social media companies while the government carves out a law to set a minimum age for users of the platforms, a senior communications ministry official said on Wednesday.

On Monday, communications minister Meutya Hafid said the government planned to issue a regulation to set a minimum age for social media users, after discussing the proposal to protect children online with President Prabowo Subianto.

The plan follows Australia's decision to ban children under 16 from accessing social media, with fines for tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, if they failed to prevent children from accessing their platforms.

"What the minister means is that the government is headed for the direction of a stronger regulation on age limit, which is through the formation of a law," Alexander Sabar, a senior official at the communications and digital ministry, told Reuters.

In the meantime, the government will issue a regulation for digital platforms, including social media companies, to adhere to child protection guidelines, he said, without providing details.

"The emphasis for the government regulation is child protection -- how they are protected from physical, mental, or moral perils," he said, adding the regulation would not totally limit children's access to social media.

Meta and TikTok did not respond to requests for comment.

Nurmayanti, a 46-year-old mother of three who goes by one name, said she agreed with the plan to curtail social media content, particularly content promoting pornography or discrimination.

"They now can freely open social media so that is concerning to us as parents," she said, adding the law must be strict and clear.

However, Anis Hidayah, a commissioner at Indonesia's main human rights body, said that limiting the internet for children was important but the government must be careful to not curb their right to information.

Nearly 50% of children under 12 in tech-savvy Indonesia use the internet with some respondents of that age group using Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, according to a survey by the Indonesia internet service providers' association.

Reuters

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Instagram logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Indonesia to push social media protections ahead of age-limit law