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SYDNEY (Reuters) -Instagram owner Meta and other social media firms said on Tuesday they will comply with a ban on users under the age of 16, adding that they will start deactivating accounts once the law takes effect on December 10. In parliament, Meta, TikTok owner ByteDance and Snapchat owner Snap said they continued to believe the ban would not protect young people, but they would soon reach out to owners of more than a million underage accounts to prepare them for the change. Their comments represented a shift in the social media industry's response to the law, which is being watched by lawmakers around the world as concern grows about youth mental health. Under the Australian law, platforms must take "reasonable steps" to block users aged less than 16 or face a fine of up to A$49.5 million ($32.5 million). The platforms previously argued that the ban would drive young people to more dangerous corners of the internet that are poorly monitored, as well as deprive young people of social contact. They also said that implementation would be unnecessarily complex. Snap and Google-owned YouTube have also argued they aren't social media companies. "We don't agree, but we accept and we will abide by the law," said Jennifer Stout, Snap's senior vice president of global policy and platform operations, via a video link. Ella Woods-Joyce, TikTok's public policy lead for Australia, reiterated the Chinese-owned platform's opposition to the ban but said "TikTok will comply with the law and meet its obligations". "We are on track to meet our compliance," she said. Mia Garlick, Meta's policy director for Australia and New Zealand, said the company would soon approach holders of accounts confirmed to be under 16 – about 450,000 across Instagram and Facebook – to give them a choice between deleting their photos and other data or offering to store it until they turned 16. TikTok, which says it has 200,000 under-16 accounts in Australia, and Snap, which says it has 440,000 under-16 accounts, said they would take similar steps. The companies added that they would use automated behaviour-tracking software to determine if an account holder claiming to be over 16 was underage. "Where we identify someone that is saying they're 25 but the behaviors would indicate that they're below the age of 16, from December 10th we will have those accounts deactivated," Woods-Joyce said. For users incorrectly deemed to be under 16, Meta and TikTok said they would refer them to a third-party age-estimation tool. Snap said it was still working on a solution for users who believed they were incorrectly blocked. (Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)

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By Ozan Ergenay (Reuters) -Siltronic on Tuesday narrowed its annual profit margin outlook alongside third-quarter results which were in line with market expectations despite a negative currency impact and deliveries shifting into the next quarter. The German semiconductor materials supplier reported sales of 300.3 million euros ($350.2 million) for the period, down from 357.3 million euros a year earlier. That was broadly in line with analysts' average forecast of 300.7 million euros, according to a poll by LSEG. The company now expects an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin of 22% to 24% for 2025. It previously forecast a range of 21% to 25%. Shares in Siltronic, which have gained 28% since the start of the year including today's session, were up 1.3% in early trading, topping Germany's small-cap index. "As expected, Q3 was impacted by significant delivery shifts into Q4 and negative FX effects, which temporarily weighed on sales and profitability," CEO Michael Heckmeier said in a statement. Analysts at Jefferies said in a note that cost savings measures helping to offset some of the pressure on the bottom line from the volume shifts into the fourth-quarter. "While no major recovery is yet in place, we anticipate volumes to start trending positively as the inventory drawdown continues," they said. Siltronic and other materials and equipment suppliers such as Aixtron and Besi have been facing a slump in demand due to customers' slower than expected inventory reductions, even as AI chip demand only partially offset weakness in the sector for automotive, PC and memory chips. Siltronic, whose customers include Infineon, Intel, Samsung and TSMC, confirmed its full-year guidance for sales and earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT). ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Reporting by Ozan Ergenay in Gdansk, editing by Matt Scuffham)

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TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's Advantest on Tuesday hiked its operating profit forecast for the year ending March 2026 by 25% to 374 billion yen ($2.48 billion) as spending on artificial intelligence drives demand for its chip testing equipment. "We have grown confident that the favourable business environment, supported by the ongoing build-out of global AI data centre infrastructure, will continue," CEO Douglas Lefever told an earnings briefing. Operating profit rose 71% to 108.4 billion yen in the July-September quarter compared to a year earlier, with the company raising its mid-term plan financial targets as AI-related investment boosts the industry. ($1 = 150.7800 yen) (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Christian Schmollinger)

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(Reuters) -Britain's largest broadband provider BT Group is mulling the launch of a low-cost mobile brand, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. BT is understood to be considering options including creating a new brand, or buying an existing mobile virtual network operator, the newspaper said. The move is said to follow the rising threat posed by new entrants to the UK telecoms market including Revolut and Monzo, the report added. A BT spokesperson said in an emailed response that the company regularly reviews its offerings across all their brands, adding that, "at present, we have no plans to change our mobile offering." Earlier this year, FT reported that fintech company Monzo announced plans to launch a mobile service. Revolut recently detailed plans for its own mobile virtual network operator in Europe, while British consumer credit firm Lendable launched a monthly 20 pound ($26.84) mobile plan earlier this month. Executives, including new consumer chief Claire Gillies, who started in April, are understood to believe BT must compete in all segments of the market to remain competitive, the FT report said. BT has also hired Uncommon Creative Studio for conducting a review of its brand, the report further added. ($1 = 0.7451 pounds) (Reporting by Yazhini MV in Bengaluru;Additional reporting by Ananya Palyekar; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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By Ju-min Park GYEONGJU, South Korea, (Reuters) -The explosive growth in artificial intelligence data centres is creating "bottlenecks" for chips and other key supplies, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said on Tuesday. "I believe these rapid developments and changes are ultimately leading to bottlenecks around the world," said Chey, who heads the large South Korean conglomerate that includes memory chipmaker SK Hynix and leads the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "Now, a lot of AI data centres need to be built, and for everything that goes into them, from chips to services, they are creating bottlenecks, I think," Chey said at a business side-event for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week in South Korea. Chey said global competition over AI was so intense that major economies such as the U.S. and China had released national AI strategies to take the lead. Chey and other global business leaders are gathering in the ancient South Korean town of Gyeongju for APEC events ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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By Foo Yun Chee and Leo Marchandon (Reuters) -Austrian privacy group noyb said on Tuesday it has filed a criminal complaint in Austria, accusing U.S.-based Clearview AI of illegally collecting photos and videos of European Union residents to build its facial-recognition database. Noyb said in a statement Clearview violated the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and Austria's criminal provisions for those violations could expose Clearview and its executives to personal liability, including potential jail time. Clearview, which markets its tools mainly to law enforcement and says it has collected more than 60 billion images globally, did not immediately respond to an emailed request from Reuters for comment. The company has previously been found in breach of the GDPR by regulators in France, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands in collecting and processing the data of millions of European citizens. The countries issued nearly 100 million euros ($116.62 million) in cumulative fines and reached a U.S. class-action settlement in March over its data-scraping practices. Clearview is contesting a 7.5-million-pound UK fine, arguing Britain's GDPR should not apply because its facial-recognition service is sold only to foreign law enforcement. The company says its operations fall outside UK jurisdiction. Its first appeal in the UK was dismissed in October, with the court ruling the service is used by clients to identify individuals and analyse behavior to predict and prevent illegal activities, thereby falling under the scope of UK GDPR. The case is now set to return to a lower tribunal, while Clearview retains the option to seek permission to appeal the jurisdiction decision. Noyb, led by Austrian lawyer Max Schrems, a privacy advocate known for winning two landmark EU court rulings that struck down transatlantic data-transfer frameworks, says Clearview has disregarded EU decisions as it lacks an EU establishment and has not paid imposed fines. The planned Austrian case seeks to test whether criminal enforcement can succeed where administrative penalties have struggled. Austria has implemented criminal provisions for certain GDPR violations within the country. If prosecutors accept the complaint, the case could set a precedent for criminal enforcement of GDPR violations and increase pressure on non-EU firms that process Europeans' biometric data. "Clearview AI amassed a global database of photos and biometric data, which makes it possible to identify people within seconds. Such power is extremely concerning and undermines the idea of a free society, where surveillance is the exception instead of the rule," Schrems said in the statement. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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(Corrects headline and paragraph 1 to say revenue is reported in constant currency, not organic, basis) (Reuters) -French IT consulting firm Capgemini said its third-quarter revenue increased by 2.9% in constant currency and raised its growth forecast on Tuesday, citing solid demand for AI solutions and strong performance in North America.  The company raised its revenue growth guidance to between 2% and 2.5% in constant currency terms, after having narrowed it to between -1% and +1% at the end of the second quarter.  ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)

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(Reuters) -British cryptocurrency company KR1 said on Tuesday it plans to uplist its stock to the main market of the London Stock Exchange, to enhance its visibility and broaden investor base. KR1's move comes at a time when decentralised blockchain companies have gained a strong foothold in the global financial system and are of great interest to institutional investors. The UK, which has one of the fastest-growing crypto markets globally, has been revising regulations and positioning itself as a hub for the maturing sector. KR1, currently listed on the Aquis Stock Exchange, said it would also establish a placing programme to issue new shares to expand its staking operations, which involve validating transactions on blockchain networks in exchange for rewards. The company's stock migration is subject to approval of a prospectus by the Financial Conduct Authority and shareholder approval. (Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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Berlin (dpa) – Diabetes patients who want a thinner waistline and a fatter wallet could do worse than consider going vegan, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Published in BMC Nutrition, the Committee's research found that people with type 1 diabetes who ate mostly low-fat vegan food needed 28% or 12.1 units less insulin a day than others, equivalent to $1.08 less spent on the treatment. "A low-fat vegan diet could reduce insulin use and insulin costs in people with t1diabetes," the researchers say in their paper. "The reductions in insulin use in the vegan group likely reflect improved insulin sensitivity, or how well the body responds to insulin," they say, adding insulin resistance is "strongly influenced by dietary fat, which can inhibit glucose from entering the cells." People with type 1 diabetes usually have to inject insulin every day – in contrast to those with type 2 who usually have to do no more than make sure their diet is appropriate. Type 1 patients with insulin resistance in turn have to take more insulin than others with the same category of the disease. But sticking to vegan food – even if less palatable for many – seemed to contribute to what the researchers list as "improved insulin sensitivity and glycemic control, and improved cholesterol levels and kidney function." The cost of insulin increased by 24% from 2017 to 2022, according to the American Diabetes Association – a rise that accompanied a wider consumer and food price inflation spiral that followed Covid-19 lockdowns and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "As insulin prices continue to rise, people with type 1 diabetes should consider a low-fat vegan diet, which can help improve their insulin sensitivity and reduce the amount of insulin they need, potentially saving them hundreds of dollars a year," says Hana Kahleova, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The following information is not intended for publication dpa spr arw

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By Leo Marchandon and Noemie Naudin (Reuters) -French IT consulting firm Capgemini raised its growth forecast on Tuesday, citing solid demand for AI solutions and strong performance in North America, after its third-quarter revenue rose by 2.9% in constant currency terms. The Paris-based company now expects its annual revenue to grow between 2% to 2.5%, excluding currency exchange effects, after previously guiding for -1% to +1%. It also narrowed its operating margin forecast to between 13.3% and 13.4%, from an earlier range of 13.3% to 13.5%. Capgemini, which provides services ranging from cloud to artificial intelligence and data across many industries, reported third-quarter revenue of 5.39 billion euros ($6.29 billion) and quarterly order bookings of 5.16 billion euros. "North America is now the group's locomotive, accounting for 28% of global revenue," CEO Aiman Ezzat said in a call with journalists. Capgemini's quarterly revenue grew 7% in the region. "This performance is driven by financial services, telecoms, media and technology, and industry, particularly in the life sciences," Ezzat added. Capgemini is also seeing growing demand for AI solutions, he said, a trend that was also behind the group's recent $3.3 billion acquisition of technology outsourcing firm WNS. "We saw an increase in demand even before the acquisition. That's why we did it. And today, we have already started to sign some nice contracts and have a very promising contract in the pipeline to be finalized by the end of the year," Ezzat said. The company's headcount increased by 4.7% to 354,700 employees at the end of September, compared to a year earlier. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)

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