Australia will not require social media giants to verify the ages of all users under its ban on under-16s using the platforms, Canberra said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube are expected to take \u201creasonable steps\u201d to stop children from accessing the apps, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia has been a leader in global efforts to prevent internet harm, but current legislation offers almost no details on how the ban will be enforced \u2014 prompting concern among experts that it will simply be a symbolic piece of unenforceable legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social media companies have also described the laws as \u201cvague\u201d, \u201cproblematic\u201d and \u201crushed\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Communications Minister Anika Wells said on Tuesday social media groups would need to take \u201creasonable steps\u201d to detect and deactivate underage users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe cannot control the ocean, but we can police the sharks and today we\u2019re making clear to the rest of the world how we can do this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is no excuse for social media platforms to fail to meet their obligations under the new laws,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuesday\u2019s long-awaited regulatory guidelines said social media platforms will need to take a \u201cmultilayered\u201d approach to age checking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the head of Australia\u2019s online regulator, the eSafety Commission, accepted there was \u201cno one-size-fits-all solution\u201d to actually enforcing the world-first legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy taking a layered or \u2018waterfall\u2019 approach\u2026 platforms can manage the risks associated with any errors in age inference or estimation,\u201d Inman Grant said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPlatforms won\u2019t have to age verify every Australian user to comply,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The eSafety Commission will be able to fine social media companies up to Aus$49.5 million for failing to comply with the rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An independent study ordered by the Australian government found this month that age checking can be done \u201cprivately, efficiently and effectively\u201d, though it admitted no single solution would fit all contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The regulator has also introduced a number of rules taking effect in Australia in the coming months to protect children from \u201clawful but awful\u201d content, including online pornography and AI chatbots capable of sexually explicit conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, gaming giant Roblox Corp agreed to curb the risk of adults grooming children on its platform in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australia will not require social media giants to verify the ages of all users under its ban on under-16s using the platforms, Canberra said Tuesday. But platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube are expected to take \u201creasonable steps\u201d to stop children from accessing the apps, it said. Australia has been a leader in global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[3783,2613,193,950],"class_list":["post-8776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-australia","tag-ban","tag-news","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8778,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776\/revisions\/8778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}