Australia has recently taken a courageous step to protect children online. Today, they have made it illegal for kids under the age of 16 to have social media accounts. This world-first policy, hailed as groundbreaking, seeks to curb the harmful effects social media can have on young people. The ban will begin in December. International leaders are taking notice of its implementation and interest.
The ban was welcomed by the Australian federal government, which commissioned UK-based Age Check Certification Scheme to study how to best enforce such a ban. On Sunday, the Age Check Certification Scheme announced that it would publish its final report. This report describes various approaches to age verification on social media. As Communications Minister Anika Wells pointed out, it’s a very complex issue. She insisted there is “no one-size-fits-all solution” to age checks.
The report acknowledges that a variety of age verification methods can be done “privately, efficiently and effectively.” The facial analysis software is advertised as 92% accurate for people over the age of 18. It falters in a “buffer zone” of roughly two to three years on either side of age 16, where precision begins to fail. This is a big deal since the legislation would require technology companies to be liable for determining users’ ages.
Under the new regulations, tech companies face fines of up to A$50 million if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to prevent those under 16 from creating accounts. This means preventing and removing active US accounts that service Australian children under this age threshold. Now, big platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube will need to adhere to these rules.
Polling data shows 75% of Australian adults support the social media ban for children under 16. A pervasive assumption is that reducing access to these platforms can somehow shield youth from a variety of unrelated online harms.
Minister Wells urged tech companies to rise to the challenge, asserting that “these are some of the world’s richest companies. They are at the forefront of AI. They use the data that we give them for a bevy of commercial purposes. I think it is reasonable to ask them to use that same data and tech to keep kids safe online.” She further asserted, “There is no excuse for social media platforms not to have a combination of age assurance methods in their platforms ready for 10 December.”
The government’s initiative marks a notable step forward to encourage child safety against the backdrop of an ever-evolving digital landscape. Australia places the onus on social media platforms to develop robust age verification measures. This new initiative is a step toward establishing a safer online space, and it lays the groundwork for other countries looking to implement similar measures.
