Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel said Australia’s new law banning under-16s from select social platforms is a “high-stakes experiment” with uncertain benefits. He said Snap has locked or disabled more than 415,000 Australian accounts believed to belong to under-16 users and is continuing daily enforcement while working with the country’s eSafety Commissioner. Spiegel warned the policy may push teens to less safe, unregulated apps, relies on imperfect age-estimation technology, and could remove a form of connection that research suggests can support adolescent wellbeing. He argued that if strict age limits are pursued, app store–level age verification would be a more uniform, privacy-preserving approach than platform-by-platform enforcement.

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