Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — Meta Platforms announcing that it will now block Instagram’s live-streaming feature for teens under the age of 16. The policy was Meta’s effort to tightening its safety measures for young users, ensuring child safety on online platform and social media.
The tech giant is also rolling out new parental control rules requiring consent before teens can disable image filters designed to block suspected nudity in direct messages (DMs).
According to The Guardian, the updates are part of Meta’s broader effort to extend its teen account protections, previously available only on Instagram to its other platforms, including Facebook and Messenger.
Instagram’s teen accounts, introduced in earlier safety updates, come with default restrictions that limit access to certain content and allow parents to manage screen time, block specific hours of app usage, and monitor interactions. Similar features will now be implemented across Facebook and Messenger, starting in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
As with Instagram, teens under 16 on Facebook and Messenger will require parental approval to modify safety settings. Those aged 16 and 17 will still face default restrictions but will be allowed to change their settings without parental permission.
Meta reported that more than 54 million users under 18 have adopted teen accounts on Instagram. Of those aged 13 to 15, over 90 percent continue to use the default restrictions.
Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, previously stated that the goal of these changes is to “rebalance the relationship” in favor of parents when it comes to child safety online. His comments came amid growing concerns that many parents are not actively using the available safety tools to monitor or manage their children’s digital behavior.
Indonesia Moves to Strengthen Online Protections for Minors
Meanwhile, Indonesia is taking its own steps to protect children online. The country recently enacted age-based digital access regulations under a new government decree, signed by President Prabowo Subianto on March 28, 2025.
Read Also:
Indonesia Plans New Regulations to Restrict Children Social Media Use
Minister of Communications and Digital Affairs (Komdigi), Meutya Hafid, announced that the policy categorizes digital platforms based on their potential risks to child development. The regulation limits independent access to digital spaces based on age brackets, in line with the national definition of a child as anyone under 18.
According to the decree, children as young as 13 may access low-risk digital platforms independently. Those aged 16 may access platforms deemed to pose a low to moderate risk, while access to high-risk digital environments will be restricted to users aged 18 and older.
The move highlights Indonesia’s growing commitment to child safety in the digital era, amid global scrutiny of how tech platforms manage their youngest users. As AI and social media technologies continue to evolve rapidly, regulators worldwide are racing to ensure that safety measures keep pace.
(Raidi/Agung)
