Snapchat has started requiring Australian teenagers to verify their age, weeks before Canberra enforces new laws banning social media use for anyone under 16, a company spokesperson said on Monday.

“Starting this week, many users will be asked to verify their age to continue accessing Snapchat,” the company said in a statement. Users will be able to confirm their age using an Australian bank account or a government-issued ID.

Snapchat, like other platforms, urged its teenage users to download their data as soon as possible, noting that it may become harder to do so once the ban takes effect.

The messaging app stated that it “strongly disagrees” with being included in the government restriction but added that it “will comply, as we do with all local laws in the countries where we operate.”

“Disconnecting teenagers from their friends and families does not make them safer and could push them toward messaging apps that are less safe and less private,” the company warned.

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CEL

So far, 10 platforms—including Discord, WhatsApp, Lego Play, and Pinterest—have avoided being included in the restrictions.

However, Australian authorities have reserved the right to update the list of platforms subject to the ban.

Australia’s new law is considered one of the strictest in the world, though experts warn it may be largely symbolic due to the challenges of enforcing it and monitoring age-verification measures.

A traffic accident reported on Sunday afternoon left at least eight people dead and around 30 injured in the department of Santa Bárbara, according to El Heraldo.

Although the numbers may change as investigations progress, the incident has been described as one of the most serious reported in the area in recent months. The victims were returning to their communities in western Honduras after participating in political activities related to the closing campaign events of one of the competing parties.

The vehicle in which they were traveling overturned under circumstances that authorities have not yet detailed.

The vessel was involved in an accident on May 17, when its 48.2-meter masts struck a bridge, leaving two sailors dead and around twenty others injured.

The ship, used to train cadets of the Mexican Navy in traditional navigation, was in New York at the time as part of a journey that included 22 ports across 15 countries. Following the incident, both the Mexican Navy and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board launched investigations.

Mexico’s Navy Secretary, Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, reported this Sunday that the vessel departed New York on October 4.

President Claudia Sheinbaum also paid tribute to cadets América Yamilet Sánchez, 20, and Adal Jair Maldonado, 23, who lost their lives in the accident.