TikTok, Meta, Snap Confirm Adherence to Australia’s Under-16 Ban
(MENAFN) Social media giants TikTok, Meta, and Snap confirmed on Tuesday that they will adhere to Australia’s groundbreaking ban on under-16 users, set to take effect next year.
Legislation passed in 2024 will prohibit children younger than 16 from holding accounts on social media platforms starting Dec. 10, 2025.
Speaking at a Senate inquiry, executives from TikTok parent ByteDance, Snapchat owner Snap, and Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, assured lawmakers that they would deactivate accounts belonging to children once the law is enforced.
Jennifer Stout, Snap’s senior vice president of global policy, appeared via video link and said the company would comply despite opposing the legislation.
Previously, Snapchat and YouTube, owned by Google, argued that they should not fall under the ban, claiming they are not social media platforms.
Stout warned that the restrictions could push teenagers toward messaging services that lack Snapchat’s privacy and safety protections. She stated, "We will comply with the law, even though we believe it has been unevenly applied."
Meta’s policy director for Australia and New Zealand, Mia Garlick, told the inquiry the company plans to contact roughly 450,000 under-16 Facebook and Instagram users in Australia, giving them the option to delete their data or store it until they reach 16.
ByteDance and Snap said they will implement similar measures for their users.
The legislation stipulates that social media companies failing to take reasonable steps to block under-16 users could face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (32.4 million U.S. dollars).
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