New OAIC guidelines complement eSafety on looming Australian social media ban

Australia’s much-discussed social media ban for under-16s will take effect December 10, and regulators around the world will be watching. To support age-restricted social media platforms and age assurance providers, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has published regulatory guidance on how to comply with the privacy provisions for the Social Media Minimum Age (SMMA) scheme.

The OSA shares responsibility for enforcing the ban, with the office of the eSafety Commissioner, which has already issued its own guidance on what “reasonable steps” platforms can take to ensure they remain compliant with the law.

In a release, Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind says the OPC’s guidance is aligned with the overall scheme’s “stringent legal obligations” on privacy and proportionality. And, she says, it puts social media platforms on notice.

“The OAIC is here to guard and uplift the privacy protections of all Australians by ensuring that the age assurance methods used by age-restricted social media platforms and age assurance providers are lawful,” Kind says. “eSafety has provided the rules of the game with their ‘reasonable steps.’ Now the OAIC is setting out what is out-of-bounds when it comes to the handling of personal information for age assurance in the social media minimum age context.”

Kind says “SMMA is not a blank cheque to use personal or sensitive information in all circumstances.”

The guidance highlights the measures of the existing Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, and urges platforms to choose age assurance providers and methods that are “necessary and proportionate” and make good on promises not to retain personal data.

“Failure to meet these obligations may constitute ‘an interference with the privacy of an individual’ and may trigger enforcement action.”

The OAIC promises that more resources are on the way, including educational resources for children and families to encourage and support conversations about online privacy.

Article Topics

age verification  |  Australia  |  Australia age verification  |  biometric age estimation  |  Office of the Information Commissioner (OAIC)  |  social media