SYDNEY (Kashmir English): Technology giant Meta has announced a two-week time for young Australians to download their digital histories and delete their accounts.
The company has started sending messages to its thousands of ‘underage’ users to save data. The announcement comes ahead of a world-first social media ban on children younger than 16, taking effect on December 10.
Meta was the first technology company to show compliance with the new law. It’s contacting teen account holders via SMS and email, warning that access to their accounts will be restricted starting December 4.
In a statement on Thursday, Meta said, “We will start notifying impacted teens today to allow them to save their contacts and memories.”
The tech giant made it clear that young users could update their contact information to help regain access once they turn 16.
Two weeks ago, the Australian government announced that, effective December 10, seven platforms — Meta’s three services, Snapchat, TikTok, X, and YouTube — are required to implement reasonable controls to limit access for Australian account holders below 16.
Social media companies face fines up to 50 million Australian dollars (approximately $33 million) if they fail to prevent users under 16 from creating accounts.
Underage Australians on Instagram, Facebook
According to Meta estimates, there are roughly 500,000 Australians aged 13 to 15 currently on Instagram and Facebook.
Account holders 16 and above who are mistakenly flagged can verify their age via Yoti Age Verification using a government-issued ID or a “video selfie.”
However, co-director of Sydney University’s Center for AI, Terry Flew, noted that such facial recognition technology has failure rates of at least 5%.
