It’s social media D-Day for more than a million young Australians, who, in theory, shouldn’t be able to access their online accounts from today.
Major social media companies, including Meta and Snapchat, have spent recent weeks removing under 16s, to comply with the Federal Government’s world first ban.
Its aim, according to Australia’s online safety regulator, eSafety, is “to protect young Australians from pressures and risks that users can be exposed to while logged in to social media accounts”.
1News asked Kiwi politicians if they would support a similar ban in New Zealand. (Source: 1News)
Countries the world over are watching Australia to see how successful the ban really is.
The New Zealand Government’s already promising regulatory change to address social media harm.
So how is Australia’s ban expected to play out?
How it will work
From today, social media platforms are expected to take what the Australian Government is labelling “reasonable steps” to stop Australians under the age of 16 from creating or keeping accounts.
And while it’s been labelled a “ban”, if we’re being technical about it, that’s not strictly true.
The social media companies won’t have to keep young people off their platforms altogether – most of them allow you to see quite a bit of content without an account, though they’d argue the most harmful content will remain hidden.
Ten major platforms have been singled out by the Government as age-restricted for now, but it’s expected others will follow suit.
Those platforms are: Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X (formerly Twitter), Youtube and Kick.
Importantly, online gaming and standalone messaging apps are among the services not encompassed by the legislative rules, meaning under 16s will still be able to use services like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Discord and Roblox.
Albanese government cracks down on harms linked to social media use by young people. (Source: 1News)
How it’ll be enforced
It’s not up to teens or parents to stick to the rules, but the social media companies themselves – with the Australian Government warning them of hefty fines of up to $57m if they don’t comply.
However, rather than confirming each user’s age, the platforms really only have to make a well informed guess.
Social media firms can use various technologies to try confirm a user’s age, and not all account holders will have to go through an age-check process if there’s already accurate data indicating the user is 16 or older.
For example, the regulator says if someone has had an account since Facebook started in Australia in 2006, Meta could reasonably assume they are older than 16 so no further check is needed.
But it’s also said age-restricted platforms can no longer just rely on a user providing a birth date at account sign up.
The platforms are expected to have ways to stop users faking their age using false identity documents, AI tools or deepfakes.
They are also expected to try to stop under-16s from using VPNs to pretend to be outside Australia.
Will the ban be a success?
There are already some cracks showing, with teens finding ways around age verification technologies and moving to other lesser known platforms currently not included under the new rules, including Lemon8 and Yope.
Communications Minister Anika Wells has indicated she’s not expecting a perfect start, warning that other platforms could be added to the Government’s hit list.
Its initial list of 10 banned platforms has evolved over time, with Reddit, Kick and Twitch only added last month.
What are other countries doing?
It appears parts of Europe are already gearing up to follow Australia’s lead, while some already have rules in place.
Italy has laws requiring under-14s on social media to have parental consent, while France requires platforms to verify users’ ages and obtain parental permission for users under 15.
The EU as a whole is also looking at stronger regulation, with the European Parliament last month voting in favour of banning under-16s without parental consent from social media, and an outright ban on under-13s.
The European Commission President is expected to receive expert advice on the best approach for Europe by the end of the year.
In New Zealand, National MP Catherine Wedd earlier this year put forward a member’s bill to restrict social media access for under-16s.
It was drawn from the ballot in October.
The Government’s now picked up the work and has said it will introduce a bill this term addressing social media use among young people, with Education Minister Erica Stanford leading investigations into this.
“What we’re working on is how do we make social media companies change their behaviours,” she told 1News.
“We’re looking very closely at what Australia are doing and what other countries are doing.”
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a man arrested after a murder on an Auckland bus, new material about Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein be released, and malware warning for thousands of New Zealanders. (Source: 1News)
