IEEE age-appropriate design work with Indonesia leads to first-of-its-kind regulation

A release from the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) says its collaboration with policymakers in Indonesia has culminated in the recently passed regulation on Governance of Electronic Systems in Child Protection, which requires online service providers to prioritize the best interests of children in their platform design and practices.

IEEE SA assisted in the development of the regulation by advancing frameworks for age-appropriate design, and hopes the engagement can serve as a model for collaborative policy development.

The regulation “builds on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its General Comment No. 25, by requiring that any digital product or service likely to be accessed by children provide a high level of privacy by default.” That includes social media sites, online games, e-commerce platforms, educational apps, smart toys and devices, as well as streaming services for entertainment and other content. The regulation is the first of its kind in Asia and the Global South.

IEEE Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Sophia Muirhead calls it “an example of IEEE putting its mission into practice in a concrete way to support societal and children’s needs.”

“Together, we enabled the development of a practical, forward-looking legal framework and regulation that will make the digital space safer for the next generation in Indonesia and, we hope, inspire similar actions worldwide.”

Specific measures in the kids online safety regulation include a ban on the profiling and geolocation of children, and restrictions on manipulative design that “nudges” users to dial down privacy settings or share unnecessary personal data.

Alignment with international age-appropriate design codes

The regulation aligns with age appropriate design codes globally, notably those of the UK and California. It draws on internationally recognized standards, including IEEE 2089, the IEEE Standard for Age Appropriate Digital Services Framework, and IEEE 2089.1, the IEEE Standard for Online Age Verification.

However, the social and cultural context in Indonesia differs from the U.S. and UK, in that the discussion about age assurance and online child safety doesn’t include pornography, which is broadly illegal in the deeply religious country. Instead, Indonesia has framed its legislative mission as a fight against child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and exploitation activity, designed to “protect, not restrict.”

Alpesh Shah, IEEE SA managing director, says that “by contributing our neutral, world-class technical expertise to Indonesia’s policy development efforts, we helped address a complex socio-technical challenge – how to make the online world safer for children – in a way that balances innovation and protection. This achievement required unprecedented cooperation across technical, governmental, and civil society domains, and it underlines what is possible when we all work together for our children.”

Article Topics

age assurance standard  |  age verification  |  children  |  data privacy  |  IEEE  |  Indonesia  |  legislation  |  regulation  |  standards