Australia To Enforce Social Media Age Limit Of 16 Next Week With Fines Up To $33 Million
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Social media platforms must report monthly the number of children’s accounts once closed Australia begins to implement the 16-year age limit A minister said on Wednesday next week.
Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Live streaming service Twitch was added to the list of age-restricted platforms less than two weeks ago.
The Australian eSafety Commissioner will send notices to 10 platforms on December 11 requesting information on the number of accounts removed. Monthly notifications will be followed for six months.
“The Government recognizes that age assurance may require several days or weeks to be completed fairly and accurately,” Communications Minister Anika Wells told the National Press Club of Australia.
“However, if eSafety detects systematic violations of the law, platforms will face fines,” he added. The eSafety regulator said the court will impose the penalty up to the maximum if there are repeated violations by the platform.
Google said on Wednesday that anyone under the age of 16 in Australia will be logged out of its platform YouTube from December 10 and will lose features such as playlists that only account holders can access.
Google will determine the ages of YouTube account holders based on personal data and other signals contained in the associated Google accounts.
“We have consistently said that this rushed legislation misunderstands our platform, the way young Australians use it and, most importantly, fails to deliver on its promise to make children safer online,” Google said in a statement.
Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said suspicious young children would be detained Removed from these platforms as of Thursday.
Meta said that holders of accounts 16 and older that were mistakenly removed can contact Yoti Age Verification and verify their age by providing government-issued IDs or a video selfie.
Sydney-based rights group Digital Freedom Project He hopes the Supreme Court will issue an injunction preventing the law from going into effect next week.
A hearing date had not been set until Wednesday.
“We will be fighting to defend this legislation in the Supreme Court over the coming months because parents all over Australia have asked the government to step in,” Wells said.
Last month, Malaysian government He said that starting from 2026, he will ban social media accounts of children under 16.
The European Commission, France, Denmark, Greece, Romania and New Zealand are also interested in setting minimum ages for social media, Wells said.
