Starting today, Australia will become the first country to enforce a minimum age for social media use, requiring platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Snap to block more than a million accounts of users below the age of 16. The Australian legislation has drawn criticism from tech companies, but support from several parents in the country. It is likely to set a template for a broader global push to tighten regulation of young users’ online safety.

The ‘Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act’ states that age-restricted platforms will be expected to take “reasonable” steps to find existing accounts held by those under 16 years of age. They must deactivate or remove these accounts, prevent them from opening new accounts, including prohibiting any workarounds that may allow

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