With Upcoming Ban, Meta Begins To Notify Australian Teens That Their Accounts Will Be Shut Down

In Brief

As Australia’s social media ban for teens nether nan property of 16 looms, Meta has started notifying teenage Facebook and Instagram users astir nan destiny of their accounts.

When nan prohibition goes into effect connected December 10, Meta will revoke teens’ entree to their existing accounts, and arsenic of December 4, will forestall users nether 16 from starting caller accounts. Once they move 16, they will beryllium capable to entree their aged relationship arsenic they near it.

It will beryllium a challenge, however, for Meta to find which users are nether nan property of 16, since group aren’t ever truthful astir their property erstwhile signing up for societal media services. But integer property checks are notoriously difficult to execute successful a mode that’s safe and effective. Identity verification services are high-profile targets for hacks, and nan implications of moreover a insignificant information vulnerability are severe, since individual accusation and authorities documents tin beryllium exposed.

Identity verification platforms person already proven problematic for users’ security. Last year, 404 Media recovered that AU10TIX, a institution that verifies nan personality of users connected TikTok, Uber, and X, had near administrative credentials exposed online for complete a year, which allowed users’ delicate accusation to beryllium exposed.

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