Australia to ban under-16s from social media – but can’t say how TikTok, Instagram and others will enforce it

Meta says it will comply if required, but the technology is not ready to enforce proposed age limit across up to 40 apps

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The Australian government has pledged to legislate an age limit of 16 years for social media access, with penalties for online platforms that do not comply.

But the Labor government has not spelled out how it expects Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and others to actually enforce that age limit. Anthony Albanese is facing pressure from the Coalition opposition to rush the bill through parliament in the next three weeks, although a federal trial into age assurance technology has not yet commenced.

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