Online platforms will notify Australian teenagers in the coming days, offering them a choice: download their data, freeze their profiles, or lose everything, when the world’s first ban on children’s social media goes into effect on December 10. The ban affects more than a million accounts.
TikTok, Snapchat, and Meta’s (META.O) Facebook, Instagram, and Threads are all set to deactivate accounts registered with users under 16.
Social media companies will rely on software they already use to assess age. For example, they will determine age based on engagement through “likes” rather than requiring repeated entry and verification of birth dates. There will also be a way to appeal against bans.
