We are mere months out from the nationwide ban on under 16’s holding social media accounts and there are very few updates to give.
As YACSA young member Haylie explained here earlier in the year, decisions on what platforms would and wouldn’t be included under the ban, and how it would be implemented began being made after legislation passed.
Haylie also touched on age verification technology, and that trials in other countries to create their own versions had previously been unsuccessful.
With parliament still awaiting a report from a government-funded age assurance trial due to be released later in August, not much has changed on this front.
While the government have been looking into this, the responsibility to verify the ages of users is with the platforms, and the ban won’t dictate how they do this.
So, while they’ll probably differ between platforms, age assurance methods could include technology that estimates your age from images of your face or matches your photo with your ID images.
But while ID checks can be used for age assurance purposes, under the legislation platforms won’t be able to have this as the only option available for users to verify their ages.
As the early-December start of the ban gets closer, the federal government has clarified some platforms that will, and will not, need to remove accounts held by under 16s.
While early discussions focused on messaging platforms, attention has now turned to YouTube – with the Government deciding that the video-sharing platform won’t get an exemption from the ban.
This is despite Google (who own YouTube) threatening legal action in response on the basis of the platform’s educational uses.
The government has said platforms would be exempt if their primary purpose is:
messaging, emailing, voice calling or video calling
playing online games
sharing information about products or services
professional networking or professional development
education
health
communication between educational institutions and students or their families
facilitating communication between providers of healthcare and people using those providers’ services.
But ultimately, while the government set these rules, it will be up to the eSafety Commissioner to enforce this legislation, including determining which platforms meet these criteria for an exemption.
