Southeast Asia takes on Big Tech to protect children online
Por Sam Beltran — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Asean This Week in Asia Politics Southeast Asia takes on Big Tech to protect children online
From Indonesia to Vietnam, governments are making platforms answerable for children’s safety – but bans can only do so much
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Sam Beltran Published: 8:00am, 10 Oct 2026 Updated: 8:27am, 10 Oct 2026 Indonesia officially barred under-16s from using “high-risk” social media earlier this year. But that hasn’t stopped the son of one Jakarta-based writer from using it. Aged 14, he already had accounts on Instagram and TikTok – among the platforms Jakarta said children would be banned from using – as well as popular video game Minecraft and gaming platform Roblox. To register, he simply lied about his age.
“He can access everything,” Inne Abidin said of her son. “His friends use everything too.”
Since March , Indonesia has had some of Southeast Asia’s strictest rules governing children’s social media use. Select Voice Select Speed 0.8x 0.9x 1.0x 1.1x 1.2x 1.5x 1.75x 00:00 00:00 1x AI-generated voice
