Report from ABC News
In Brief – With Australia’s 16-year-old age limit for social media going into effect on December 10, the country’s eSafety Commissioner has indicated that the ban could apply to more platforms beyond Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, and YouTube, writing to 11 more companies asking them to self-assess whether they fall under the new law, while doing background research on around 100. While the social media age limit regime includes multiple exemptions, including messaging and gaming services, many platforms combine various types of services that may pull a platform in. Among the additional platforms contacted by the eSafety Commissioner were WhatsApp, Reddit, Pinterest, Twitch, Roblox, Steam, Kick, and Lego Play, with gaming services that include social features particularly noteworthy. If a company believes that their platform should be exempt from the ban, they have been told to make their case in writing and provide evidence as to why. An affirmative designation by the regulator can be challenged in court.
Context – Online age verification continues to march on globally. Australia provides insight into how age checks proliferate. Not only is there the social media age limit, which appears to be evolving to cover platforms with social features, but the country also has new rules going into effect in December to limit access to harmful but legal content by age, including online porn and AI chatbots capable of sexually explicit dialogue. One result will be age checks for search engines like Google and Microsoft. In Europe, France is imposing age checks on porn sites, the Commission has announced a five-country pilot of an age verification app, age check functionalities may be included in the planned Digital Identity (eID) Wallet, and President von der Leyen says that the Commission will explore a social media age limit. The UK Online Safety Act is being used to grow age verification along a similar rubric of porn, social media, and game sites with social features. In the US, the Supreme Court ruled that age check mandates were acceptable for porn sites and states are rapidly attempting to expand them to social media.