Australia’s debate on age verification for social media reaches Parliament

The Australian government has introduced a bill in parliament that aims to ban social media for children under 16. The new legislation promises fines of up to AU$50 million (US$33 million) for social media platforms for systemic failures to prevent children from holding accounts.

The legislation was introduced by the country’s communications minister Michelle Rowland on Thursday. The age restrictions would include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, TikTok and X. Kids under the age of 16, however, would still be able to access messaging services, online games, or platforms that support the health and education of users, such as YouTube Kids.

Aside from bans on social media use, the government is also looking into preventing children under 18 from accessing pornography.

The responsibility for enforcing age limits would lie with tech companies and platforms. After it becomes law, the platforms would have one year to implement the age restriction. Misusing personal information collected for age-assurance purposes could also lead to fines of up to AU$50 million.

The Parliament is expected to vote on the new bill next week. The legislation has bipartisan political support, according to the Associated Press.

“There is wide acknowledgement that something must be done in the immediate term to help prevent young teens and children from being exposed to streams of content unfiltered and infinite,” says Minister Rowland.

Last week, the government announced it had awarded a tender for an age assurance trial to a consortium led by the Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS). The trial will test biometric facial age estimation, age verification and inference as well as parental controls and technology readiness. Results are expected in mid-2025.

“This trial will provide essential insights into how age assurance technology can be used to create a safer online experience for users of all ages,” says ACCS Executive Director Tony Allen.

Debates continue on social media restrictions

The new regulation has prompted debates on age assurance, privacy and online harms in Australia. Experts have warned that a ban on social media could end up isolating kids from their peers and exclude them from online spaces. An Australian parliament committee tasked with examining the impact of social media on Australian kids seems to agree.

In its report, the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society does not recommend banning children under 16 from accessing social media. Instead, it argues that there is widespread agreement that a ban alone is not sufficient to curb harm on social media. The committee also recommends including young people in designing regulations on social media.

Among its 12 recommendations is directing more work and resources towards research and development into pattern-detection, open-source, network analysis, biometrics, machine learning and other technologies available to law enforcement.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a non-profit think tank based in Washington D.C., says that a more balanced approach is needed to allow children to benefit from social media.

“Blocking an entire age group from social media is the equivalent of using a regulatory sledgehammer instead of a scalpel to address complex and evolving online safety issues,” ITIIF says.

ID-based age verification may be the most accurate but it is also the most invasive. Technologies such as age estimation are more privacy-friendly but it doesn’t solve the ban’s problems, according to the ITIF. Instead, the Australian government should consider switching the responsibility to operating systems.

The “child flag system” requires device operating systems to create a “trustworthy child flag” that communicates to apps and websites that a user is underage. The option would be optional and would be activated or disabled by the children’s parents.

The ACCS’ Allen takes issue with platforms that create risk devolving responsibility for that risk to others in a recent LinkedIn post.

Australian industry association Digital Industry Group (DIGI) has also warned that there may not be time for a meaningful conversation on the bill’s details before it is voted into parliament.

“A blunt ban doesn’t encourage companies to continually improve safety because the focus is on keeping teenagers off the service, rather than keeping them safe when they’re on it,” the group says.

In October, a group of more than 140 people working in technology and child welfare under the name Australian Child Rights Taskforce (ACRT) penned an open letter to the Albanese government, arguing that banning kids from social media is “too blunt an instrument.”

Article Topics

Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS)  |  age verification  |  Australia age verification  |  children  |  digital identity  |  face biometrics  |  ITIF  |  legislation  |  selfie biometrics  |  social media