Roblox to Introduce New Controls for Indonesian Users U-16 Amid Social Media Restrictions

Roblox is set to roll out additional content and communication controls for players under 16 in Indonesia, as the country moves to enforce stricter social media regulations for minors.

The announcement came through a statement by Matt Kaufman, Roblox's Chief Safety Officer, on Wednesday.

"This week, we announced that in order to address regional requirements in Indonesia, we will soon introduce additional controls on content and communication for players under the age of 16 years old in Indonesia," Kaufman said.

The company, however, has not yet disclosed the specifics of what these controls will look like in practice.

This move comes in direct response to a new ministerial regulation issued earlier this month in Indonesia. According to the regulation, platforms are required to deactivate "high risk" social media accounts belonging to users under 16. Indonesia's Communications and Digital Minister, Meutya Hafid, confirmed that these deactivations are scheduled to take effect on March 28.

Roblox is not the only platform caught in the middle of this. As per reports from Indonesia's Communications and Digital Ministry, platforms including Instagram, Google's YouTube, and TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, were also identified as high risk alongside Roblox.

Social media platform X (Twitter) has also responded to the regulation. Starting March 28, Indonesian users will need to be at least 16 years old to hold an account on the platform.

However, Roblox cannot completely ban users under 16, as most of its user base falls within that age group. Therefore, the company seems to be limiting in-game communication.