10/12/2025

WEDNESDAY | DEC 10, 2025

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Australia social media ban takes effect

SYDNEY: Australia is set to become the first country to implement a minimum age for social media use today, with platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube forced to block more than a million accounts, marking the beginning of an expected global wave of regulation. Ten of the biggest platforms will be required to block Australians aged under 16 or be fined up to A$49.5 million (US$33 million or RM136 million). The rollout closes out a year of speculation about whether a country can block children from using technology that is built into modern life. And it begins a live experiment that will be studied globally by lawmakers who want to intervene directly because they are frustrated by what they say is a tech industry that has been too slow to implement effective harm-minimisation efforts. “While Australia is the first to adopt such restrictions, it is unlikely to be the last,” said Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University. “Governments around the world are watching how the power of Big Tech was successfully taken on.” A spokesperson for the British government, which in July began forcing websites hosting

BEIJING: China executed yesterday a former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings, Bai Tianhui, for taking bribes totalling 1.1 billion yuan (RM642 million). The company is a key offshore financing unit of troubled asset manager China Huarong Asset Management, known since last year as China CITIC Financial Asset Management. One of China’s biggest bad debt managers, Huarong was set up to handle bad loans from state banks. The amount of bribes taken by Bai was “particularly huge” and “the social impact was pernicious, causing serious losses to the interests of the state and the people”, state broadcaster CCTV said. CCTV said Bai exploited his senior positions at Huarong International Financial Holdings Ltd (Hong Kong) and China Huarong International Holdings Ltd between 2014 and 2018 to illegally accept money and assets. Bai, sentenced to death in May last year by a court in Tianjin, lost his appeal to a higher court in February, which was then approved by the country’s top court. The execution was the latest in China’s anti-graft campaign that has been widened to the sprawling financial industry. – Reuters China executes former banker SEOUL: South Korea said it had sent up fighter jets yesterday after seven Russian and two Chinese military aircraft entered its air defence zone. The Russian and Chinese aircraft entered the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. None of the planes violated South Korean airspace. Seoul said it deployed “fighter jets to take tactical measures”. The planes flew in and out of the zone for an hour before leaving, the military said. The planes were spotted before they entered the zone, defined as a broader area in which countries police aircraft for security reasons but which does not constitute their airspace. – AFP AUSTRALIA ORDERS GHOST BAT DRONES SYDNEY: Australia said yesterday it had struck a A$1.4 billion (RM3.8 million) contract with Boeing Defence Australia for six operational Ghost Bat drones for the Australian Defence Force, after conducting the first live weapon test on an aerial target. The announcement coincided with talks between Australian and US defence and foreign ministers in Washington, where they agreed to joint production and maintenance of hypersonic cruise missiles in Australia, and more rotations of US bomber aircraft. The Ghost Bat or MQ-28A is the first military aircraft designed in Australia in more than 50 years, to fly as a partner with surveillance and fighter jets to a range of more than 3,700km. Defence Minister Richard Marles said the Ghost Bat had recently tested an air-to-air missile against an aerial target. – Reuters SOUTH KOREA SCRAMBLES JETS

BR I E F S

Platforms say they don’t make much money showing advertisements to under-16s, but they add that the ban interrupts a pipeline of future users. Just before the ban took effect, 86% of Australians aged eight to 15 used social media, the government said. “The days of social media being seen as a platform for unbridled self-expression, I think, are coming to an end,” said Terry Flew, the co director of University of Sydney’s Centre for AI, Trust and Governance. Platforms responded to negative headlines and regulatory threats with measures like a minimum age of 13 and extra privacy features for teenagers, but “if that had been the structure of social media in the boom period, I don’t think we’d be having this debate”, he said. – Reuters

o Platforms face fines of up to US$33m

change as new products appear and young users switch to alternatives. Of the initial 10, all but Elon Musk’s X have said they will comply using age inference – guessing a person’s age from their online activity – or age estimation, which is usually based on a selfie. They might also check with uploaded identification documents or linked bank account details. Musk has said the ban “seems like a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians” and most platforms have complained that it violates people’s right to free speech. An Australian High Court challenge overseen by a libertarian state lawmaker is pending.

pornographic content to block under-18 users, said it was “monitoring Australia’s approach”. “When it comes to children’s safety, nothing is off the table,” he said. Few will scrutinise the impact as closely as the Australians. The eSafety Commissioner, an Australian regulator tasked with enforcing the ban, hired Stanford University and 11 academics to analyse data on thousands of young Australians covered by the ban for at least two years. Though the ban covers 10 platforms initially, including Alphabet’s YouTube, Meta’s Instagram and TikTok, the government has said the list will

A car is stuck in a hole in Tohoku town, Aomori Prefecture. – AFPPIC

Japan earthquake injures 30, damages roads

SAPPORO: A big quake off Japan injured at least 30 people, authorities said yesterday, damaging roads and knocking out power for thousands in freezing temperatures. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the magnitude 7.5 quake at 11.15pm on Monday (10.15pm in Malaysia), downgraded from its first reading of 7.6, raised the chances of similar or larger tremors in the coming days. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said 30 people were injured in the quake off the coast of the northern Aomori region, which triggered tsunami waves up to 70cm. Daiki Shimohata, 33, a civil servant in Hashikami on Honshu

At first the JMA warned of tsunamis up to 3m, which could have caused major damage. Around 28,000 people were initially advised after the quake to evacuate, emergency services said, and media reports said some makeshift shelters were full. In the end the biggest waves recorded measured up to 70cm and after several hours the tsunami warnings were lifted. Shinkansen bullet-train service was suspended in some areas while engineers checked for any damage to the tracks. No abnormalities were detected at the Higashidori or Onagawa nuclear power plants, operator Tohoku Electric Power said. – AFP

several fires but government spokesman Minoru Kihara said yesterday there was one confirmed blaze at a house. On the main northern island of Hokkaido, an AFP reporter said the ground shook violently for around 30 seconds as smartphone alarms alerted residents. In the city of Hachinohe the quake reached upper six on Japan’s seven-level Shindo scale of shakiness, the point at which it’s impossible to move without crawling. With temperatures around freezing point, around 2,700 homes were without power but by yesterday electricity had been restored to most areas.

island, said he and his family rushed outside their home. “It lasted for about 20 seconds,” Shimohata said by phone. “We were holding our children – a two-year-old girl and a one-year old boy – in our arms,” he said. One person was seriously hurt in the main northern island of Hokkaido, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Footage showed people in a supermarket clinging to a table with items having fallen off shelves, as well as crevasses in roads and at least one car in a hole. Elsewhere broken glass from windows was scattered on roads and pavements. Initially there were reports of