Australia is proceeding with plans to pass legislation that would introduce online age verification (referred to as “age assurance”).
The proposal was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who explained that under the plan, users younger than 16 would be banned from using social platforms.
In order to make the proposal more palatable, Albanese framed it as “a gift” to parents, but also revealed that users themselves would not be held responsible or penalized for breaking the possible future law.
Instead, companies behind social media are the ones targeted by the planned legislation. Albanese mention Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, X, TikTok and Google’s YouTube as the kind of major sites that would be affected. Children under 16 would still be able to access social sites without parental consent – but only if they are logged out of accounts.
The task of the companies, according to the proposal, would be to show they are taking “reasonable steps” to stop minors under 16 from accessing their sites and apps.
Those “steps” mean integrating age verification into the platforms – and despite Albanese’s platitudes about the government “having the moms’ and dads’ back” – Australia is yet to come up with a method of actually determining someone’s age.
For now, the technology is being trialed, while the timeline for Albanese’s newest proposal is to introduce it in parliament when it reconvenes in two week’s time, and in the meanwhile the prime minister will work to promote it via an online National Cabinet meeting.
The proposal will then be debated, and if adopted, it will be implemented within the following 12 months. The “enforcer” would be Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, also responsible for coming up with a guidance for social sites on how to implement “age assurance” – once the authorities figure out what it should be.
But Australian politicians want that method to be such that “effective age assurance” is – somehow – done “without alienating adult users.”
As for 16 being the cut-off age for having an account on social networks, Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland described it as a “pragmatic approach” that will supposedly prevent harm, while still allowing for “connection and inclusion.”
