Post by : Bianca
Haleem
Major platforms Meta, TikTok and Snap have announced they will deactivate accounts belonging to users under 16 in Australia from December 10, following a new national law that prohibits minors from holding social media accounts.
The legislation, described as the first of its kind globally, obliges tech firms to take "reasonable steps" to stop users under 16 from creating or keeping accounts, with fines reaching up to A$49.5 million (US$32.5 million) for non-compliance.
The companies initially opposed the measure, warning it could push young people toward unregulated online spaces. They have since said they will comply with the regulation.
Parliamentary figures show Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, has flagged roughly 450,000 accounts in Australia as belonging to users under 16. Affected users will be offered the choice to have their data deleted or held securely until they reach 16.
TikTok has identified about 200,000 underage accounts and Snap around 440,000, and both plan similar actions. All three firms intend to use behavior-based tools to detect accounts where age may have been misrepresented. TikTok’s Australian policy lead, Ella Woods-Joyce, said accounts found to belong to under-16s will be deactivated from December 10.
If an account is wrongly marked as underage, Meta and TikTok will permit verification through a third-party age-estimation service. Snap is still developing a mechanism for users who are incorrectly blocked.
Governments and child-safety advocates worldwide are watching closely. As the first country to enforce strict age-based social media restrictions, Australia’s move could prompt similar policies elsewhere.
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