Tech giants Meta and TikTok have confirmed they will comply with Australia’s new law banning users under the age of 16 from social media platforms — even as both companies warned that enforcing the measure would be challenging.

Under the new rule, set to take effect on December 10, social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok will be required to remove users below 16 years from their services.

The policy has drawn global attention as regulators around the world grapple with how to protect minors from online risks while balancing access and privacy concerns.

Both TikTok and Meta acknowledged the government’s authority but cautioned that enforcing the law would be technically difficult.

“Put simply, TikTok will comply with the law and meet our legislative obligations,” said Ella Woods-Joyce, TikTok’s Australia policy lead, during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

While the law is considered one of the strictest worldwide, Australian authorities are still ironing out key details about how it will be implemented and monitored.

TikTok described the ban as “blunt,” warning it could drive young users to unregulated corners of the internet.

“Experts believe a ban will push younger people into darker corners of the Internet where protections don’t exist,” Woods-Joyce added.

‘Vague’ and ‘Rushed’

Meta’s policy director Mia Garlick told lawmakers the company was working to remove hundreds of thousands of underage accounts before the December 10 deadline but described the task as complex.

She said Meta faced “significant new engineering and age assurance challenges” to identify and remove accounts belonging to users under 16.

“The goal from our perspective, being compliance with the law, would be to remove those under 16,” she noted.

Officials have clarified that social media companies will not be mandated to verify every user’s age but must take “reasonable steps” to detect and deactivate underage accounts.

Violating the regulation could attract penalties of up to Aus$49.5 million (US$32 million).

Several tech firms have criticized the legislation as “vague,” “problematic,” and “rushed.”

Video platform YouTube, also affected by the ban, said that while Australia’s intentions were good, the approach was flawed.

“The legislation will not only be extremely difficult to enforce, but it also does not fulfill its promise of making kids safer online,” said YouTube’s local spokesperson Rachel Lord.

Australia’s online safety watchdog has also hinted that other platforms — including WhatsApp, Twitch, and Roblox — could fall under the scope of the new law.

Credit: AFP

Amazon will lay off tens of thousands of office workers as the e-commerce and technology giant cuts costs amid growing investments in artificial intelligence, according to multiple US media reports.

About 30,000 positions are expected to be affected in the job reduction exercise, which is set to begin on Tuesday, reports from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and other outlets indicated, citing anonymous sources.

The move represents nearly 10 percent of Amazon’s 350,000 office jobs, though it will not affect the company’s much larger distribution and warehouse workforce, which accounts for most of its 1.5 million employees worldwide.

Seattle-based Amazon did not immediately respond to inquiries from AFP regarding the reported layoffs.

Shares of Amazon closed slightly higher on Monday as news of the potential cost-cutting spread across markets.

Amazon’s Chief Executive Officer, Andy Jassy, has repeatedly emphasized the company’s focus on AI as a major driver of efficiency and innovation.

“Our conviction that AI will change every customer experience is starting to play out,” Jassy said during the company’s last quarterly earnings call.

Amazon, which will report earnings on Thursday, is under pressure — alongside other major tech firms — to demonstrate tangible returns from its large-scale AI investments.

According to Sky Canaves, Principal Analyst at Emarketer, Amazon’s cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), will be closely watched for performance.

“AWS will be under pressure to both show revenue acceleration and operating margin improvement in light of its massive AI investments,” Canaves said.

The layoffs come shortly after Amazon experienced a significant AWS outage that disrupted internet access for millions of users worldwide.

Popular platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Airbnb, Snapchat, Fortnite, and Duolingo, were among the services affected, while messaging apps Signal and WhatsApp experienced disruptions in parts of Europe, according to Downdetector.

Some banks, including Lloyd’s, also reported interruptions linked to the cloud service failure.

Amazon later said the issue had been traced to a Domain Name System (DNS) error — the online infrastructure that directs internet traffic.

AWS remains the global leader in cloud computing, ahead of Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, and serves as a backbone for businesses, governments, and digital services around the world.

President Bola Tinubu has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to supporting the Dangote Refinery’s planned expansion from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day.

Tinubu, represented by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, gave the assurance on Monday at the 19th edition of the OTL Africa Downstream Conference and Exhibition in Lagos.

He described the project as a “game-changer” for Nigeria, West Africa, and the global energy market.

According to him, the refinery’s expansion would not only boost Nigeria’s self-sufficiency in refined petroleum products but also enhance energy supply across the African continent.

When completed, the expansion will make the facility the largest refinery in the world, surpassing the Jamnagar Refinery in India.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos on Sunday, the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said the move reflects confidence in Nigeria’s economic future and aligns with President Tinubu’s vision of making the country a global hub for refined petroleum exports.

“We are more than doubling the barrels… to 1.4 million from 650,000,” Dangote said at the press conference in Lagos.
“This will make it the largest refinery in the world, surpassing India’s Jamnagar Refinery,” he added.

“This expansion is about confidence in Nigeria, in Africa, and in our capacity to shape our own energy future.”

President Tinubu also pledged that the Federal Government would give full backing to private investments that promote value addition and energy security, stressing that such projects align with his administration’s goal of building a competitive downstream sector under a deregulated petroleum market.

Lokpobiri, speaking on behalf of the President, noted that Africa has a vast untapped market for petroleum products, emphasizing the need to retain more value within the continent.

“Data has shown that Africa has enough markets. By 2024, the data available shows that Africa imported $120 billion worth of hydrocarbon resources,” he said.

“That shows that Africa has the market. But because we have limited financial capacity and a limited distribution network, most of the money still goes back to countries outside the continent. For Nigeria, our target is to see how we can redeem a proportion of that value.”

When completed, the expansion is expected to significantly transform Nigeria’s oil refining capacity and position the country as a dominant player in the global downstream sector.