Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Snap (NYSE:SNAP), and ByteDance Ltd.’s (BDNCE) TikTok said they would comply with Australia’s looming social media ban for under-16s, setting aside their opposition just weeks before it takes effect, as per reports.
Representatives from the platform operators gave remote testimony to a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra on Tuesday and said they plan to start barring underage users from Dec. 10, the day the world-first legislation takes effect, Bloomberg News reported.
“Put simply, TikTok will comply with the law and meet our legislative obligations,” the firm’s Australia policy lead, Ella Woods-Joyce, told a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Under the Australian law, platforms must take “reasonable steps” to block users aged less than 16 or face a fine of up to A$49.5 million ($32.5 million).
The platforms previously contended that the ban would push young users toward less regulated and potentially riskier parts of the internet. They further argued that enforcing such a ban would be overly complicated. Snap and Google (GOOG)-owned YouTube have also maintained that they do not qualify as social media companies.
