Forcing all Australians to verify their age under the federal government’s world-leading social media ban would be “unreasonable”, the online safety watchdog says.
As Australia prepares to ban children under 16 from creating social media accounts, the federal government and eSafety Commissioner have unveiled new guidelines for tech giants.
Platforms will no longer be able to rely on users self-declaring their age.
Instead, they are expected to find and deactivate or remove underage accounts, in addition to preventing users under 16 from circumventing the rules.
While the Labor government has claimed this will be a major change that bolsters kids’ safety, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant assured adults their user experiences should remain largely unaffected.
“One of the scare tactics we’ve already seen one of the platforms use is every Australia is going to have to age verify,” she told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
“They, of course, don’t want to do that because that is going to create a lot of friction and a lot of inconvenience.
“We think it would be unreasonable if platforms re-verified everyone’s age, we want them to focus on the under-16s.”
About 95 per cent of 10- to 15-year-olds hold at least one social media account, according to Ms Inman Grant.
But under the laws, social media companies would be prohibited from forcing users to hand over their government ID to prove their age.
This will likely force platforms to use age assurance technologies.
Popular kids game platform Roblox has announced it will expand age estimation to all users who access its communication features and similar moves were under way at Apple and dating app Tinder, Ms Inman Grant said.
While many have been found to be “fairly robust”, an independent trial that informed government decision-making found many of these technologies could not be considered infallible.
Experts have raised concerns kids could use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or help from older siblings to bypass restrictions.
Unnecessary data retention could also take place if tech giants anticipated future regulation, fuelling worries over an increased risk of privacy breaches.
But Communications Minister Anika Wells maintained the ban would improve the online space.
“We are not anticipating perfection here,” she told reporters.
“We cannot control the ocean, but we can police the sharks.”
Tech giants could be fined up to $49.5 million for failing to prevent people younger than 16 from having an account on an age-restricted social media platform.
Sites such as TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and more will be forced to fall in line.
Ms Wells and the eSafety commissioner are expected to meet heads of some of these companies in coming weeks during a trip to the United States.
Comment is being sought from the affected platforms.