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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