Canberra to enforce social media age limit of 16 next week

Australia’s Communications Minister Anika Wells [AP Photo]

Social media platforms must report monthly how many children’s accounts they close once Australia begins enforcing its 16-year age limit next week, a minister said.

Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X and YouTube would face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) from Dec. 10 if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove accounts of Australian children younger than 16. Livestreaming service Twitch was added to the list of age-restricted platforms less than two weeks ago.

The Australian eSafety Commissioner will send the 10 platforms notices on Dec. 11 demanding information about the numbers of accounts removed. Monthly notices would follow for six months.

“The government recognizes that age assurance may require several days or weeks to complete fairly and accurately,” Communications Minister Anika Wells told the National Press Club of Australia.

“However, if eSafety identifies systemic breaches of the law, the platforms will face fines,” she added. The eSafety regulator said a court would apply the penalty up to the maximum if the platform had repeated violations.

Google said yesterday [Macau time] that anyone in Australia under 16 would be signed out of its platform YouTube from Dec. 10 and lose features accessible only to account holders such as playlists.

Google would determine YouTube account holders’ ages based on personal data contained in associated Google accounts and other signals.

“We have consistently said this rushed legislation misunderstands our platform, the way young Australians use it and, most importantly, it does not fulfill its promise to make kids safer online,” a Google statement said.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said suspected young children will be removed from those platforms from yesterday.

Account holders 16 and older who were mistakenly removed could contact Yoti Age Verification and verify their age by providing government-issued IDs or a video selfie, Meta said. MDT/AP