01/04/2026

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Tech giants under probe SYDNEY: Australia threatened yesterday to sue social media giants for allegedly flouting a ban on under 16s, as its internet regulator disclosed it is investigating some of the biggest platforms for suspected non compliance. Three months after the ban came into effect, the eSafety Commissioner said it was investigating Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, Google’s YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok for possible breaches of the law. Communications Minister Anika Wells said the government was gathering evidence “so that the eSafety Commissioner can go to the Federal Court and win”. “We have spent the summer building that evidence base of all the stories that no doubt you have all heard ... about how kids are getting around that,” Wells told reporters in Canberra. Governments are watching Australia’s moves to rein in the tech giants, with many considering similar regulation to protect children from harms including bullying and body shaming. The legal threat is a striking change of tone from a government which had hailed tech giants’ shows of cooperation when the ban went live in December. After an early claim the companies had deactivated 4.7 million suspected underage accounts, the government has faced daily headlines of teenagers evading restrictions or simply keeping their accounts without being asked their age. Meta and Snap said they were committed to complying with the ban, and a Meta spokesperson added the government’s own trial of age assurance technology found “natural error margins” around the 16 age cutoff. TikTok declined to comment while a Google spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. Under the Australian law, platforms must show they are taking reasonable steps to keep out underage users or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($34 million) per breach, something eSafety would need to pursue in a civil court. The regulator previously said it would only take enforcement action in cases of systemic noncompliance. But in its first comprehensive compliance report since the ban took effect, eSafety said measures taken by the platforms were substandard and it would make a decision about next steps by mid-year. – Reuters issued summons letters to Google and Meta over their failure to comply with a social media ban for under-16s that entered into force over the weekend, the communications minister said. In a video posted on Instagram late Monday, minister Meutya Hafid said “the government is sending summons letters” to Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, as well as to Google, which oversees YouTube, adding they “violated Indonesian law”. The summonses were issued “as part of the application of administrative sanctions in accordance with the applicable provisions”, the minister said. App-addicted Indonesia began enforcing a social media ban for users under the age of 16 on Saturday, JAKARTA: Indonesia

Google, Meta face summonses

o ‘Failure to comply with teen ban’ online pornography, cyberbullying and internet addiction, as concerns grow globally over the impact of social media on children’s well-being. Australia, which in December became the first country to introduce citing threats from

most social media users in the world, including about 70 million children under the age of 16. “We understand this is not easy. Indonesia is indeed one of the most active countries in the digital space, with average scrolling time of 7-8 hours per day,” said the minister. She urged parents and children to help the government monitor compliance and report companies that flout the law. – AFP

examples of platforms not yet fully compliant but “making efforts”. They will receive warning letters. “We will focus on working with platforms that have the goodwill to respect Indonesia, not only as a digital market, but also (by) committing to Indonesian laws and legal instruments for child protection,” she said. Indonesia, with its population of over 284 million, boasts among the

measures to protect teens from online threats, is investigating Facebook, TikTok and YouTube for possible breaches. Meutya said over the weekend there would be “no room for compromise regarding compliance”. In Monday’s video, she accused Google and Meta of having opposed the new regulations “from the very beginning”. She named TikTok and Roblox as

Nasa Moon launch set for takeoff CAPE CANAVERAL: Nasa began its two-day countdown on Monday ahead of what is slated to be its first crewed moonshot in more than half a century, a long-anticipated loop around Earth’s satellite that is to pave the way for future exploration.

The first window to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida opens today at 6.24pm (Thursday 6.24am in Malaysia). “The vehicle is ready, the system is ready. The crew is ready,” said Amit Kshatriya, the US space agency’s associate administrator. “Behind this flight stands a campaign,” he said, noting recently announced plans including constructing a lunar base. If the launch is cancelled or delayed, there are more liftoff opportunities through April 6. As of Monday evening, Nasa officials voiced confidence that engineering operations and final preparations were going smoothly. “We’ll fly when this hardware is ready,” said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. “But certainly all indications are right now we are in excellent, excellent shape.” The four astronauts set to carry out the Moon voyage – Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian colleague Jeremy Hansen – are in quarantine ahead of their journey. Nasa officials said they would have the opportunity to have dinner with their families. The odyssey will mark a series of firsts: the first time a woman, a person of colour and a non-American will venture on a Moon mission. It is also the inaugural crewed flight of Nasa’s new lunar rocket, dubbed SLS. The mammoth orange-and-white rocket is designed to allow the United States to repeatedly return to the Moon in years to come, with the goal of establishing a permanent base. – AFP NEW DELHI: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama warned yesterday that violence only results in more conflict, urging peace as conflict rages in the Middle East and Ukraine. “History has shown us time and again that violence only begets more violence and is never a lasting foundation for peace,” he wrote in a letter yesterday.

(From left) Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen visiting on Monday the Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft at Cape Canaveral in Florida . – AFPPIC ‘Enduring resolution rooted in dialogue, diplomacy and mutual respect’

of what all major religions teach,” the Dalai Lama said. “Whether we look to Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism or any of the world’s spiritual traditions, the message is fundamentally the same: love, compassion, tolerance and self discipline. “Violence finds no true home in any of these teachings.” – AFP

violence and conflicts may soon come to an end.” The charismatic 90-year-old, who lives in exile in India, said he backed the message of peace that Pope Leo XIV gave during his Palm Sunday address. “His call for the laying down of arms and the renunciation of violence resonated profoundly with me, as it speaks to the very essence

“An enduring resolution to conflict, including the ones we see in the Middle East or between Russia and Ukraine, must be rooted in dialogue, diplomacy and mutual respect – approached with the understanding that, at the deepest level, we are all brothers and sisters,” the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said. “I urge for and pray that the