Tech giants Meta and TikTok have confirmed they will comply with Australia’s new social media age restriction law, which bans users under the age of 16 from accessing major platforms. However, both companies have warned that the law will be difficult to enforce and could carry unintended consequences.
The legislation, set to take effect from December 10, will require platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to remove accounts belonging to users under 16. It is one of the toughest age-based restrictions ever implemented by a Western nation.
Compliance with challenges
Speaking at a Senate hearing on Tuesday, TikTok’s Australia policy head Ella Woods-Joyce said the company would fully comply with the new law but stressed that it poses complex challenges.
“Put simply, TikTok will comply with the law and meet our legislative obligations,” Woods-Joyce said. However, she cautioned that experts believe the ban could push younger users into less-regulated corners of the internet, where safety mechanisms are weaker.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, echoed similar concerns. Its policy director Mia Garlick told lawmakers that Meta is working to identify and remove hundreds of thousands of accounts before the December 10 deadline.
“The goal from our perspective, being compliance with the law, would be to remove those under 16,” Garlick said. Yet she acknowledged the company faces “significant new engineering and age-assurance challenges” in determining users’ ages accurately.
Enforcement and penalties
Australia’s new online safety framework stops short of requiring companies to verify every user’s age. Instead, firms must take “reasonable steps” to detect and deactivate underage accounts. Those failing to comply could face fines of up to AUD 49.5 million (USD 32 million).
The Australian government has described the move as essential to protecting minors from online harms such as cyberbullying, predatory behavior, and exposure to explicit content. However, the tech sector has largely criticized the legislation as “vague,” “rushed,” and “technically unrealistic.”
Wider impact on platforms
Video-sharing platform YouTube, which is also covered under the new law, said the policy was “well-intentioned but poorly structured.”
“The legislation will not only be extremely difficult to enforce, it also does not fulfil its promise of making kids safer online,” said YouTube’s local spokeswoman Rachel Lord.
Australia’s eSafety Commission has hinted that other popular platforms, including WhatsApp, Twitch, and Roblox, could also fall under the law’s scope.
With barely a month left before implementation, regulators are racing to finalize enforcement guidelines, while tech companies scramble to design compliance systems that meet the new standards without alienating users.
