Australia includes Amazon's Twitch in youth social media ban, Pinterest excluded

Australia's internet regulatory body announced on Friday that it will include Amazon's live streaming service Twitch in its upcoming ban on social media for teenagers, but will not include image-sharing platform Pinterest in the list. Starting from December 10th, Australia will become the world's first country to prohibit the use of social media by individuals under the age of 16. Companies that fail to take "reasonable measures" to comply with the ban could face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars. The eSafety Commissioner stated that Twitch meets the criteria for social media services because it is primarily used for live streaming and sharing interactive content, allowing users to communicate with others. Twitch plans to deactivate accounts of all users aged 16 and under starting from January 9th, and prohibit new underage users from creating accounts after the ban takes effect next month.