Meta, TikTok and Snap agree to comply with Australia’s push to ban social media access for … – Mint

International tech giants Meta, TikTok and Snapchat announced on Tuesday that they will comply with Australia’s under-16 social media ban, once it takes effect on 10 December. Australia’s Parliament approved the law, which requires social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to remove users under 16. Tech companies could face fines up to $32.5 million for non-compliance. Although the platforms agreed to abide by the law, they warned that the landmark law could prove difficult to enforce and raised concerns about imposing such a law, AFP reported. What are the difficulties? Snapchat, ByteDance’s TikTok and Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) said the ban would be hard to police, but confirmed they would comply with the regulations. Meta’s policy director, Mia Garlick, said the firm was still solving “numerous challenges,” including identifying and removing hundreds of thousands of users under 16 by the 10 December deadline. However, she also said the process is difficult and poses “significant new engineering and age assurance challenges.” TikTok’s Australia policy lead, Ella Woods-Joyce, was present in the Senate hearing on Tuesday. She commented, “TikTok will comply with the law and meet our legislative obligations.” However, the short video platform
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