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Social Media Firms Urge Caution on Early Australia Under-16 Ban Data

Novva Tolson,15, poses while holding a mobile phone, in Sydney, Australia July 14, 2026. REUTERS/Jeremy Piper
Novva Tolson,15, poses while holding a mobile phone, in Sydney, Australia July 14, 2026. REUTERS/Jeremy Piper
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Social Media Firms Urge Caution on Early Australia Under-16 Ban Data

Novva Tolson,15, poses while holding a mobile phone, in Sydney, Australia July 14, 2026. REUTERS/Jeremy Piper
Novva Tolson,15, poses while holding a mobile phone, in Sydney, Australia July 14, 2026. REUTERS/Jeremy Piper

Top social media platforms urged the Australian government not to place too much weight on early evidence showing most children still use their products despite a landmark under-16 ban, as lawmakers weigh tougher penalties and investigative powers for regulators.

Local heads of YouTube owner Google, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, Snapchat and TikTok fronted a Senate inquiry as lawmakers pressed them on multiple studies, including from Australia's internet regulator, showing some 80% of minors were still on social media months after ⁠the ban took effect ⁠in December.

The hearing showed a persisting divide between lawmakers and big tech over whether the ban is working at a time when the eSafety Commissioner is considering legal action against some platforms, accusing them of deliberately slow-walking compliance to discourage other jurisdictions from copying it.

The inquiry is examining amendments that would double maximum penalties to A$99 million ($64 million) and expand the commissioner's powers to compel information ⁠and documents from platforms and their third-party age assurance providers during investigations.

"It is a point in tim, very early on, and we caution against over-reliance on that," YouTube's head of government relations Rachel Lord told the inquiry, noting the government's latest published compliance data was from March.

Age assurance technology had largely been built around a cut-off of 18, which many jurisdictions consider the transition from childhood to adulthood, and "the technologies that we are using to detect users at the 16 age boundary are evolving", Lord added, according to Reuters.

Meta's Australia head of public policy Mia Garlick said the data on which the research was based may not ⁠reflect whether underage users ⁠had an account, even if they claimed to use a platform.

"There can be differences in terms of people accessing versus having an account," she told the inquiry.

"Sometimes survey data is challenging in terms of stated versus revealed."

Meta released figures a day earlier showing it had deactivated 756,000 Instagram and Facebook accounts suspected of belonging to underage users, up from about 500,000 in March. YouTube's Lord said Google has stopped about 740,000 holders of Google accounts from using their accounts to use YouTube.

TikTok's Australian head of public policy Jessica Loftstedt said the company's compliance efforts were an "iterative process". The company had taken down 550,000 accounts when the law took effect and had since been removing about 24,000 a month.

The eSafety commissioner is scheduled to testify at the inquiry later on Friday.

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Varieties

Owners Reunite with Pets in Quake-hit Colombia

A rescuer pets a dog in the aftermath of an earthquake, in Pereira, Colombia, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/Juan David Duque
A rescuer pets a dog in the aftermath of an earthquake, in Pereira, Colombia, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/Juan David Duque
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Owners Reunite with Pets in Quake-hit Colombia

A rescuer pets a dog in the aftermath of an earthquake, in Pereira, Colombia, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/Juan David Duque
A rescuer pets a dog in the aftermath of an earthquake, in Pereira, Colombia, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/Juan David Duque

A beaming Vickye Giraldo holds her rescued kitten tight against her chest outside her ruined home in quake-hit Cali, Colombia.

The country's third-largest city was pummeled by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake on Monday, along with swaths of Colombia's coffee region and western coast.

With at least 273 people dead and thousands more injured, rescuers dig tirelessly through the wreckage, searching for survivors before time runs out.

The critical 72-hour window to find people alive came to a close on Thursday, but Giraldo and others are drawing hope from their reunions with furry friends.

"It's an indescribable moment," the 56-year-old lawyer told AFP, planting a kiss on her cat Polux's head after rescuers pulled the animal from the detritus of its owner's apartment.

Giraldo had lived with two dogs and two cats in a building that now slants dangerously to one side.

One dog made it out alive, while the other did not survive and Giraldo's other cat remains missing.

"These have been very hard days, thinking we might not be able to rescue them, but in the end it's a dream come true. It really is," she said, tearing up as she cradled Polux in her arms.

Another Cali resident and animal lover, Andrea Paredes, has not given up hope on reuniting with her dog and cats.

Her husband "managed to grab one little dog" before fleeing the shaking building, Paredes said.

The quake destroyed over 12,000 homes, official data shows, making thousands of families destitute.

Applause met rescuers on Thursday after they rescued a dog from another collapsed building.

A team of veterinarians rushed to assist the visibly feeble creature, giving him water before carrying him away on a stretcher.

"Pets are like children. I insist on that," volunteer Nelson Vidales told AFP.

"I know there are a lot of people thinking about humans, but the time must come when pets are looked for too. That's what I'm here for," he said.

Varieties

Etna Ash Keeps Catania Airport Shut Until Friday, Disrupting Summer Travel

A drone view of volcanic ash and lava during an eruption at Mount Etna, forcing authorities to suspend flights at Catania airport, in Sicily, Italy, August 12, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view of volcanic ash and lava during an eruption at Mount Etna, forcing authorities to suspend flights at Catania airport, in Sicily, Italy, August 12, 2026. (Reuters)
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Etna Ash Keeps Catania Airport Shut Until Friday, Disrupting Summer Travel

A drone view of volcanic ash and lava during an eruption at Mount Etna, forcing authorities to suspend flights at Catania airport, in Sicily, Italy, August 12, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view of volcanic ash and lava during an eruption at Mount Etna, forcing authorities to suspend flights at Catania airport, in Sicily, Italy, August 12, 2026. (Reuters)

Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Friday because of ash from Mount Etna's ongoing volcanic activity, which has forced hundreds of flights to be cancelled or rerouted over the past week.

All arrivals and departures at the island hub, Italy's fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic, will be ‌suspended through 2 ‌a.m. local time on ‌August ⁠14, airport operator ⁠SAC said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Passengers were advised to check the status of their flights with their airlines before travelling to the airport.

The prolonged restrictions come at ⁠the height of the summer holiday ‌season, affecting thousands ‌of passengers, and have placed additional pressure ‌on Sicily's other airports.

Mount Etna, Europe's ‌highest and most active volcano, frequently disrupts operations at Catania airport, whose operator launched the sale of a stake of at ‌least 51% in May.

Marco Viccaro, president of the Italian Volcanological Association, ⁠said ⁠the activity at Etna, which began on August 6, is more energetic than previous episodes and is continuing in a sustained way.

"This suggests that deeper, gas-rich magma is playing a more active role, making the fragmentation process more efficient and leading to increased ash production, which is severely disrupting air traffic to and from Catania airport," he added.

Varieties

Canadian Wildfire That Forced 20,000 to Flee May Signal ‘New Normal’

Smoke rises from the Brunswick Creek wildfire, looking north over the Fraser River near Boston Bar, British Columbia, Canada, August 11, 2026 in an aerial photograph. (BC Wildfire/Handout via Reuters)
Smoke rises from the Brunswick Creek wildfire, looking north over the Fraser River near Boston Bar, British Columbia, Canada, August 11, 2026 in an aerial photograph. (BC Wildfire/Handout via Reuters)
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Canadian Wildfire That Forced 20,000 to Flee May Signal ‘New Normal’

Smoke rises from the Brunswick Creek wildfire, looking north over the Fraser River near Boston Bar, British Columbia, Canada, August 11, 2026 in an aerial photograph. (BC Wildfire/Handout via Reuters)
Smoke rises from the Brunswick Creek wildfire, looking north over the Fraser River near Boston Bar, British Columbia, Canada, August 11, 2026 in an aerial photograph. (BC Wildfire/Handout via Reuters)

A wildfire that forced more than 20,000 people from their homes in western Canada moved so quickly that crews had to abandon firefighting to help residents escape, a pace British Columbia’s premier said Wednesday may represent a “new normal.”

The Bald Range wildfire erupted Friday near Summerland, a community of about 12,000 in British Columbia’s Okanagan region. By Wednesday, it had grown to about 184 square kilometers (71 square miles) after destroying homes and killing an 80-year-old woman.

"There’s an important set of lessons for us to take about how quickly this moved and that this may be our new normal for fire speed," Premier David Eby said. He said the blaze outpaced wildfire modeling and left some residents with little time to evacuate.

Officials have begun damage assessments, but the area remained unsafe Wednesday and there was no timeline for residents to return.

Crews were clearing vegetation to help slow the fire’s spread as officials warned that thunderstorms could bring erratic winds and increase fire activity. Highway 97, a major route through the area, remained closed.

Eby visited an evacuation reception center in Penticton, where he said he met people devastated by the loss of their homes.

“A lot of emotions in there, obviously,” he told reporters, calling the woman’s death a “tragic loss.”

Summerland pharmacist Jonathan Kiesman said he was worried about displaced patients getting their medications and said seeing the fire approach the community “almost brought tears to my eyes.”

Officials said they were withholding broader details on property losses until residents could be notified directly.

“The last thing that I would want is somebody to have the shock of finding out on social media or on television about their home being lost,” British Columbia Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene said.

Eby said the province would review the response, including whether changes are needed to wildfire planning, building standards and vegetation management near communities.

Given the drought and summer heat, he warned, “this is very unlikely to be the last significant fire we see this summer.”

Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes warned that recovery would be long and difficult.

Canada has endured a series of severe wildfire seasons in recent years, with smoke repeatedly drifting into the United States. In record-setting 2023, fires burned more than 14.6 million hectares (36 million acres), an area roughly the size of Illinois.

Canada has warmed faster than the global average in recent decades, while the amount of land burned by wildfires has increased substantially. Much of the country’s forest is remote and dominated by spruce and pine, conditions that can make fires difficult to contain once they become established.