Australian eSafety Commissioner battling suits from Big Tech ahead of Dec 10

If the wave of age assurance legislation across the globe had a headlining showdown, it would probably be in Australia, which is about to enact the world’s first law requiring age verification for social media.

To date, online safety laws focusing on adult content have not exactly been popular, but few have stepped forward to argue loudly for their right to watch dirty movies. Porn is much harder to defend than social media, which does not traffic exclusively in sleaze, and has demonstrable benefits beyond onanism to weigh against its (also demonstrable) harms.

Besides which, the big social media companies are run by the world’s richest men, a gaggle of Silicon Valley bulldozers who have amassed oversized influence on U.S. policy. Their resources are practically limitless.

However, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page do not appear to faze Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, who has been consistent in her determination to make the law stick. A profile in TechPolicy notes that Inman Grant is no stranger to Big Tech: an American by birth, she was Microsoft’s lobbyist in Washington, D.C. in the 1990s, and “helped push for what is arguably the United States’ most consequential tech law, known as Section 230, which shields platforms from liability over user-generated material.” She also worked, briefly, for Twitter, which Musk rebranded as X.

X, YouTube, Telegram line up to test Australian laws

Inman Grant has already faced challenges and is steeling herself to face more. In July, Australian courts rejected X Corp’s challenge to eSafety’s demand for details on what the company was doing to stop child exploitation on its platform, X. Inman Grant’s statement at the time made her position clear: “eSafety will continue enforcing the Online Safety Act and holding all tech companies to account without fear or favour, ensuring they comply with the laws of Australia.”

Since then, in addition to continued pestering from Musk, she has engaged in fights with Google over YouTube’s revoked exemption to the social media law, and, most recently, with messaging service Telegram.

A report from MLex says lawyers for the eSafety Commissioner have asked an Australian court to make Telegram clarify the scope of its legal action against the commissioner’s office. Having received a document that included “an infringement notice issue hitherto not raised,” eSafety wants to know what, exactly, it is defending itself against.

Like X, Telegram’s complaint originated with a request from eSafety for transparency reporting, and subsequent fines when said reporting didn’t materialize. The hitherto unraised issue appears to be a technicality, concerning whether or not Safety’s notice was delivered to the “correct entity” at Telegram. The fight is getting heated, with Telegram also seeking to exclude evidence that eSafety intends to use against it, and lawyers threatening to explain the process under oath.

Dynamic list could encompass AI chatbots

Inman Grant has done a fair bit of groundwork with Silicon Valley, having met with Meta, Google, Snap, Discord, OpenAI, Anthropic and Character.AI to discuss the incoming law. The commissioner deemed the platforms’ preparations to be a mixed bag, but noted that Meta was furthest along.

In enforcing the law, she has promised to keep a dynamic list, which can adapt at the pace of quickly changing tech. Meetings with AI companies suggest an intention to slap age assurance regulations on AI chatbots – another bit of legislative thinking being echoed in other countries.

“What we’re doing here represents the first domino,” she says, noting the proliferation of online safety activity globally. “The regulatory tide has turned, and we’re not the only one anymore.”

Article Topics

age verification  |  Australia  |  Australia age verification  |  biometric age estimation  |  lawsuits  |  legislation  |  Online Safety Act (Australia)  |  social media