e-commerce / indonesia / online shopping ban

Indonesia is considering a ban on online shopping for people under 16 to prevent minors from becoming victims of e-commerce fraud, the country’s Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Merdita Hafiz told AFP. The proposal would extend an earlier social media restriction for the same age group to shopping sites, though officials have not released details on how a "shopping ban" would be implemented or enforced. The move signals regulators’ growing focus on child protection in the digital economy and could affect e-commerce platforms, payment services, and identity-verification flows in Indonesia’s large, fast-growing online market.

Indonesia is considering a ban on online shopping for people under 16 after earlier restricting minors’ access to social media, aiming to protect roughly 70 million children from fraud. Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Merdita Hafiz said e-commerce platforms could be next because children have been victimized by scams during online purchases, though she provided no implementation details. In late March Indonesia became the first Southeast Asian country to bar under-16s from creating accounts on high-risk platforms like YouTube, citing risks including sexual exploitation, cyberbullying, fraud and addiction. Officials indicate such age-based restrictions may ultimately extend to all digital platforms, raising implications for platforms, payment providers and child safety enforcement.