Australia's communications minister announced plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit children under the age of 16 from accessing social media platforms such as X, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. The proposed bill aims to hold these tech companies accountable for excluding underage users from their platforms.
Once the legislation is enacted, the platforms will have a one-year grace period to develop mechanisms to enforce the ban on younger children. Failure to comply could result in fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars for systemic breaches.
The method by which the platforms will verify the ages of account holders remains unclear at this time. The government emphasized that the legislation will include stringent provisions to safeguard the privacy of social media users.
To assist in age verification efforts, a consortium led by a British company has been tasked with exploring various technologies that can estimate and verify ages. These technologies may involve age estimation and age inference methods, although none are foolproof.
In addition to the ban on children under 16 from social media, Australia is also exploring ways to prevent minors under 18 from accessing online pornography. The government aims to address concerns related to exposure to violent content, pornography, and other harmful material that could impact children's mental development.
While acknowledging the importance of protecting children online, some industry advocates have raised concerns about the age restrictions, describing them as a '20th-century response to 21st-century challenges.' The debate continues on how best to balance online safety with privacy and access concerns.
