Indonesia's Minister for Communications and Digital Affairs, Ms. Mertiyaa, stated on the 6th that the Indonesian government is considering implementing an “online shopping ban” for people under the age of 16, in order to prevent minors from falling victim to scams on online shopping platforms.
She made this remark in an interview with Agence France-Presse.
She stated that after Indonesia introduced a social media ban for those under 16, the next step will be to extend the ban to shopping websites.
She said: “E-commerce platforms will be next because we have found that children have become victims of scams while shopping online.”
However, Ms. Mertiyaa did not specify the details of the “online shopping ban.”
On March 28 this year, Indonesia officially implemented a social media ban for those under 16, prohibiting young people from creating accounts on social media platforms such as YouTube. The Indonesian government said this ban covers about 70 million teenagers and children in Indonesia, aiming to protect them from problems such as online pornography, cyberbullying, online scams, and internet addiction.
At this stage, Indonesia’s social media ban mainly targets eight “high-risk” online platforms, but the ban will eventually be applied to all digital platforms.