TikTok disables nine million under-16 accounts under Indonesia's child protection rules

TikTok has closed more than nine million accounts held by children under 16 in Indonesia, the country's communications minister has said, as platforms fall in line with rules on child protection that came into force this year.

The figure was given by Meutya Hafid, the Minister of Communication and Digital, at a press conference at her ministry's office in Central Jakarta on Wednesday 7 October 2026. She said the company had reported disabling over nine million accounts, a figure she said had stood at four million previously. The moves are part of the platforms' efforts to comply with an Indonesian government regulation on protecting children online, known as PP Tunas, which the government has enforced since 28 March 2026.

Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, has also acted under the same rules. According to the minister, the company reported blocking 85,000 Instagram accounts and 99,000 Facebook accounts used by people under 16. In addition, she said, Meta has moved 22.5 million children's accounts into the teen account system it operates on Instagram and Facebook. She described that figure as possibly the latest report available.

Features, not just numbers

Meutya told the press conference that the government is not measuring compliance only by how many accounts have been shut or restricted. "The government is taking note not only of the number of accounts that have had their access cut off, but primarily the changes in features to become safer for children," she said.

She said the administration is pressing digital platforms to alter features that may carry risks for children. The features she singled out include ones that allow communication with strangers and others that could lead to addictive behaviour.

The minister said the government views the reported removals as progress, but added that the teen account system on Instagram and Facebook is not yet regarded as a low-risk platform. Her office, working with expert teams, is preparing more detailed standards for child safety on digital platforms. "Komdigi, along with expert teams, will create a framework from the seven risks that we have mandated or assigned to these platforms," she said.

Those seven risks, as she listed them, are contact risk, content risk, addiction risk, security, consumer risk, physical and physiological condition, and mental health risk.

What the rules require

The regulation behind the enforcement, Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025, is the Indonesian legal instrument on how electronic systems must be run to protect children, commonly shortened to PP Tunas. It has applied since 28 March 2026, and the account removals reported by TikTok and Meta are the platforms' response to it.

Indonesia is not the only jurisdiction where TikTok's handling of young users' accounts is under official scrutiny. In July 2026 the European Commission sent the company preliminary findings that accounts belonging to under-18s do not meet the safety standards required under the Digital Services Act, the European Union's rules for very large platforms. The Commission's preliminary findings say young people could set their accounts to public, which allows content from 16 and 17 year olds to be recommended to any user of the app. Those findings are preliminary, not a final ruling.

The Digital Services Act places stricter obligations on platforms with more than 45 million monthly users in the EU. They must assess and reduce risks, including harm to children, offer a feed that is not built on profiling, and avoid deceptive design.

US courts and claims for compensation

While Indonesia's action is regulatory, courts in the United States have been deciding claims brought over the design of the same platforms. In March 2026, a jury in Los Angeles returned a verdict in a case brought over a young woman referred to in court as K.G.M., finding Meta, over Instagram, and Google, over YouTube, negligent both in how their platforms were designed and operated and in failing to warn users.

More recently, in September 2026, Judge Cory Liu of a Texas district court ruled on summary judgment, without a jury, that TikTok had broken state law by misleading the public about how safe the app is for children. A trial over civil penalties and an injunction was scheduled for October 2026.

For families in the UK, those developments sit alongside an unresolved question in domestic law. The Consumer Protection Act 1987 has generally been applied to physical products, but one lawyer has suggested that social media companies could be treated as makers of a digital space, and the Law Commission is examining whether the Act fits the digital age. That review matters for anyone asking whether they can sue social media companies or pursue a social media addiction claim in this country, because the answer currently depends on how far old product law can stretch.

What happens next in Indonesia

The ministry's immediate task is the framework it has promised to build around the seven categories of risk. Meutya said her team and the experts working with it will produce more detailed guidance on child safety standards for digital platforms, building on the obligations already assigned to the companies under PP Tunas.

For the platforms, the reported figures mark the scale of the adjustment so far: nine million TikTok accounts closed, 184,000 accounts blocked across Meta's two main social networks, and 22.5 million children moved into teen accounts on Instagram and Facebook. The minister's message was that the government will keep watching what the platforms change, not only what they delete.

Anyone affected by the issues in this article can contact Samaritans free on 116 123 or at samaritans.org.

Families who want to know more can read about the latest developments, guidance for young people, the full case files and how long people have to claim.