JAKARTA, March 25 – Videogame platform Roblox will introduce content and communications controls for players under 16 in Indonesia to comply with the country’s social media block for children, Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s Chief Safety Officer, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
* Indonesia will require platforms to deactivate “high risk”social media accounts for under 16s, according to a ministerialregulation issued earlier this month. * The deactivations are set to take effect on March 28, saidMeutya Hafid, Indonesia’s Communications and Digital Minister. * Roblox, Instagram, Google’s YouTube, and TikTok, owned byChina’s ByteDance, were among the platforms identified by theCommunications and Digital Ministry earlier this month as highrisk. * “This week, we announced that in order to address regionalrequirements in Indonesia, we will soon introduce additionalcontrols on content and communication for players under the ageof 16 years old in Indonesia,” Kaufman said. * Roblox did not provide details about the additionalcontrols. * Social media platform X said that starting from March 28,its Indonesian users must be at least 16 years old to have anaccount. * X said on its website that Indonesia’s minimum agerequirement “prevents age-restricted social media platforms,including X, from letting people under 16 create or keep anaccount. It’s not our choice – it’s what Indonesian lawrequires.” * A number of countries, including Australia, have imposedcurbs on social media for children amid mounting concerns aboutthe safety and mental health of underage users.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by David Stanway)
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