Trial of tech that could be used to keep Australian under-16s off social media finds some errors ‘inevitable’

For people aged 16 and 17, false rejection rates remained ‘above acceptable levels’ for the facial age estimation, the report found, at 8.5% and 2.6% respectively. Photograph: Daniel de la Hoz/Getty Images

The official trial of age assurance technologies that could be used to keep under-16s from accessing social media has found that while there are effective options, errors are inevitable and age estimation tools are more likely to make mistakes for users within two years of 16.

The long-awaited report from the trial found that companies may need to provide multiple “fallback options” such as ID checks in those cases where age estimation technology fails.