This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and several other social media companies could be heading toward legal trouble in Australia, as regulators take a closer look at how well they’re enforcing a ban on users under 16.
The country’s online safety watchdog is reviewing platforms including Snapchat (NYSE:SNAP), TikTok, and YouTube (NASDAQ:GOOG), and the early read isn’t great. While about 5M underage accounts have already been taken down, regulators say plenty of kids are still slipping through, either keeping their accounts or creating new ones without much difficulty.
That’s where the issue really is. Officials flagged significant concerns with roughly half the platforms, pointing to weak age checks and systems that let users keep trying until they get through. The question now is whether companies actually took reasonable steps to follow the rules. If not, fines could go up to A$49.5 million, or about $33 million, for more serious breaches.
