Midan, Indonesia – As a mother of a 18 -month -old daughter, Laila Lopes is busy facing the challenges and joys of the new motherhood.

Although her daughter has not recently applied to her first words, Lobeis is already considering how the Internet and social media can constitute her development for a long time in the future.

“I will never give a mobile phone for my child,” said Lopeis, who works as a human worker in Manchesal Natal, north of Sumatra, on the island.

“I will not allow my daughter to use a mobile phone for as long as possible. Perhaps when my child reaches about six years, I will think about her home education, so she will have to access the Internet for that.”

Throughout Indonesia, countless families take place similar discussions among them, as the government is preparing to provide the minimum age to use social media.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Affairs launched the plans last month, as part of an attempt to enhance children’s protection policies in the archipelago about 280 million people.

Although the government has not yet announced specific age borders, officials have emphasized the need for a stronger organization to protect minors from “physical, mental or moral risks.”

The offer of Indonesia comes in the wake of a similar effort in neighboring Australia, which in November has become the first country to prohibit less than 16 years of access to social media.

Under Australian legislation, social media platforms such as Facebook, Tiktok and Instagram are facing fines of up to $ 32 million if they fail to apply age requirements.

Before the introduction of its law, Jakarta announced its intention to impose temporary guidelines to protect the child on social media companies while the government clears legislation.

Lopese said that while the embargo has not yet been destroyed, it believes that the government is expected to have started the debate about preserving the peace of children online.

“I think there are more negatives instead of positives for children who use social media and the Internet, especially very young children,” she said.

The potential ban is the latest in a series of efforts made by the Indonesian government to curb large technology companies.

In October, the Indonesian authorities banned the Apple 16 sales of Apple and Pixel Google because companies failed to comply with the regulations that impose the source of smartphones at least 40 percent of their parts locally.

In 2022, the government threatened to prevent Google, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram if they were not registered in the Ministry of Communication, although companies were rescued from the ban after subscribing before the deadline.

The authorities have also banned the NETFLIX popular broadcasting platform from 2016 to 2020 amid fears that “inappropriate content”, including pornography, and the video sharing platform that was briefly banned in 2018.

“In some way, the issue reflects a broader source of tension between Jakarta and major technology, and pushing the government to increase the accountability of companies in preserving the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, he told Al -Jazeera.

Brendita said: “By imposing age limits on the use of social media, the burden of transformations in implementation to technology companies, and making them directly responsible for compliance and potential repercussions,” adding that discussions about the restriction of social media have turned in Indonesia for years, though From serious efforts, the traction force has only gained recently.

“The authorities focused primarily on exploiting children, radical accounts, and other harmful content,” he said.

While Australia’s legislation has exploded new, the potential ban of Indonesia will affect more people.

About 139 million Indonesia uses social media and about half of children under the age of 12 access platforms such as Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook, according to the Internet service provider association in Indonesia.

Brendita said that the Gen Z users between the ages of 12 and 27 have the highest internet use rate in Indonesia, by 87 percent, with most of them active on Tiktok and Instagram – both of which include more than 110 million users in the country.

General Alpha [people born after 2010] They are likely to be very proactive users of social media as well. “Their departure from these platforms means that social media may be appointed to inspect huge numbers of followers,” he said.

As in Australia, minimal age plans also sparked concerns about privacy and misuse of possible user data.

“The minimum application of life requirements on social media platforms requires identification of the user, such as driver’s licenses or national identifiers. This poses great special risks, especially for platforms that encourage non -disclosure of their identity, such as Reddit, where sensitive data can be penetrated or sold.” .

“One of the alternatives is for the government to store user data while it simply stipulates the identification without keeping personal information. However, digital identity systems carry its weaknesses, as they are still vulnerable to data violations and misuse.”

Some Indonesians question the need for the government to intervene to remove minors from popular platforms.

Uday Sarono, a social worker who runs the Bosa Postaka Literacy Program for Children Drivonials in Lambong, Sumatra, said that the use of social media among young people has positive and negative aspects.

“The positives include developing children’s creativity and their communication skills. However, there are negative things created by social media such as influencing focus, causing excessive anxiety, lack of self -confidence, and even sleep and bullying disorders.”

Sarono said that an attempt to eliminate or reduce social media use among children may be difficult to achieve in an era where most people are on the Internet.

“Technological progress is not something that can be resisted, but it can be used wisely. It is needed to control children’s access to social media and timing when they use it.”

“There must also be space to ensure that children are monitored when using social media.”