Restricted Access: How Many WhatsApp Users Are There in Indonesia?

The government restricted access to social media to prevent the spread of hoaxes related to the May 22, 2019 riots. One of the platforms restricted was the messaging application WhatsApp. According to data from a January 2019 Hootsuite survey, WhatsApp was one of the most actively used social media platforms in Indonesia, with a penetration rate of 83%. This means that 83% of internet users, or approximately 124 million users, were recorded as using WhatsApp on their devices.

WhatsApp ranked second as the most active social media platform in Indonesia. YouTube held the top position with an 86% penetration rate. Following in the top ranks for social networking applications were Facebook (81%), Instagram (80%), and Twitter (52%). For messaging applications besides WhatsApp, Line followed with (59%), FB Messenger (47%), BBM (38%), Skype (28%), and WeChat (28%).

(Read Databoks: WhatsApp, The Most Popular Messaging App in the World)

In this survey, the number of internet and social media users in Indonesia reached 150 million people, or 56% of the total Indonesian population. This number continues to increase from previous years. The survey results also show that Indonesians spend an average of 3 hours and 26 minutes each day using social media.