Final rules for social media ban on 16s revealed

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Social media companies won't have to verify the age of every user under plans to ban children on apps such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. The government has released guidelines which the tech giants will have to adhere to from December.

Transcript

00:00Scrolling, sending, soon to change for younger Australians.

00:06We've arrived at a regulatory guidance that is reasonable, feasible and fair.

00:11The eSafety Commissioner releasing new terms and conditions for tech companies,

00:15which will restrict under-16s from accessing social media.

00:19The guidance is not prescriptive. It recognises the diversity of platforms,

00:24technologies, approaches available.

00:26The new guidelines state there's no one set of measures suitable for all platforms.

00:31Companies can choose which age assurance technology to use,

00:35but eSafety recommends multiple methods to check a person's age.

00:39Scanning someone's face, looking at the history of their use of account.

00:43Having a lot of these in a row can increase their accuracy,

00:46but what it actually admits is that none of these tools by themselves

00:49was found to be good enough to do the job.

00:51The ban comes into place from December 10.

00:54Companies won't need to verify the age of every user,

00:57but fines of up to $50 million will be imposed

01:00if there are systemic failures to take children off the platform.

01:04We are not anticipating perfection here.

01:06These are world-leading laws, but we are requiring meaningful change.

01:11What we're seeing here is likely a best compromise

01:13in terms of holding the tech companies to try to enact the legislation

01:18while acknowledging that the system is certainly not perfect.

01:21The guidelines providing wriggle room for companies to enforce the rules in a way they see fit,

01:26meaning children will notice different approaches across the apps.

01:30This is going to be a challenge, I think, to make sure that we do this safely with young people and families,

01:36but to be honest we welcome any chance to make online environments safer.

01:40The Prime Minister is keen to spruik what he calls world-leading legislation

01:44when he meets with political leaders in the United States next week.

01:48But in a sign there's still more work to be done,

01:51the eSafety Commissioner is travelling to Silicon Valley for talks with tech companies

01:56who still have some reservations.

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