Age verification is coming to search engines in Australia – with huge implications for privacy and inclusion

The intention of age verification is to limit young people’s access to pornography, high-impact violence and other inappropriate but not illegal material. But automating content moderation at scale is a notoriously complex task, writes Samantha Floreani. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

The way we use the internet in Australia is changing. Soon, it won’t just be social media platforms asking to verify your age. Come December, age verification requirements will also extend to search engines – with significant ramifications.

That means you may need to scan your face or do an identity check to use a search engine as a logged-in user. And it’s unlikely to stop there: the eSafety commissioner is considering rules for mandatory age checks across the entire internet landscape.