brisbane, australia
—
Children across Australia will wake up on Wednesday without access to their social media accounts in a world-first ban aimed at protecting under-16s from addictive algorithms, online predators and digital bullying.
No other country has taken such drastic measures, and the implementation of this tough new law is being closely watched by lawmakers around the world.
Most of the 10 banned platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, Kick, Reddit, Twitch, and X, say they use age verification technology to identify people under 16 and comply with the ban by suspending their accounts, but they don’t believe it will make children safer.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already touted the ban as a success as families discuss social media use. It is expected that some children and their parents will ignore the ban, but neither will be affected.
Mr Albanese told public broadcaster ABC on Sunday: “I have been clear that this is not perfect, but… it is right for society to express its views and judgments about what is appropriate.”
Under the law, to avoid fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million), platforms must demonstrate that they have taken “reasonable steps” to disable accounts used by under-16s and prevent new accounts from being opened.
Snapchat users will have their accounts suspended for three years, or until they turn 16.
YouTube account holders will be automatically signed out on December 10th and their channel will no longer be visible. However, your child’s data will be saved so they can reactivate their account when they turn 16. Kids can still watch YouTube without logging in.
TikTok announced that it will deactivate all accounts used by people under 16 on December 10th. Age verification technology will identify who is using the account, regardless of which email is used or whose name is on the account. Content previously posted by young users will no longer be viewable. The platform also encourages parents who believe their children may have lied about their age when opening an account to report it.
Twitch said minors under the age of 16 in Australia will not be allowed to create new accounts on the live streaming site popular with gamers from December 10, but current accounts held by under-16s will not be deactivated until January 9. The company did not respond to requests for explanation about the delay.
On December 4th, Meta began removing accounts belonging to youth under the age of 16 on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. Users will be invited to download the content and will see it there if they wish to reactivate their account when they turn 16.
Reddit has announced that it will suspend the accounts of users under the age of 16 and prohibit them from opening new accounts.
X did not answer questions about how it would comply with the ban, but has fiercely opposed the bill as a violation of free speech.
Kick, a live streaming service similar to Twitch, did not respond to requests for comment.
In addition to the list of banned sites, it also includes a list of platforms that are not yet considered part of the ban. They are Discord, GitHub, Google Classroom, LEGO Play, Messenger, Pinterest, Roblox, Steam and Steam Chat, WhatsApp, and YouTube Kids.
The decision to exclude Roblox was considered a puzzling choice by many Australians, given recent reports of children being targeted by adult predators within Roblox’s games.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inmangrant said discussions with Roblox began in June and they had agreed to introduce new regulations in January that will be introduced this month in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
Users must verify their age to enable the chat feature and can only chat with people of the same age.
Banned platforms already had a good idea of who was using their services based on the date of birth a user entered when opening an account, but the new law requires them to proactively verify age.
This has sparked opposition from some adult users who are concerned that they will be asked to verify their age. The Age Assurance Technology Test conducted earlier this year has given the government confidence that age verification is possible without compromising privacy.
The platform verifies age through live video selfies, email addresses, official documents, etc. According to Yoti, an age verification company whose clients include Meta, most users opt for video selfies that use facial data points to estimate their age.
Some people are looking for alternative platforms that offer similar services that are not prohibited.
Photo-sharing platform Yoop has announced it has attracted 100,000 new users in Australia through word of mouth as an impending ban looms. Lemon8, a TikTok-like platform also owned by ByteDance, is also being touted among teens as a backup.
Both platforms have been notified by the eSafety Commissioner. Lemon 8 says it will comply with Australia’s new law, but Yope told CNN the ban does not apply because messaging with strangers is not allowed.
The eSafety Commissioner said the list of banned sites is evolving and new sites may be added as they grow in popularity or offer new services.
The fluid nature of the list, and the incentive for other operators to cater to the millions of teenagers looking for alternatives, has led to criticism that the government is creating a game of “whack-a-mole” that it will likely never win.
Youth counselors and advocacy groups are watching where children go, worried that children who rely on social media for social participation will end up in unregulated digital spaces with even fewer safeguards.
Part of the motivation for the ban is to get kids offline and more involved with the real world, and officials plan to measure that.
“We look at everything from whether children are sleeping more, socializing more, taking less antidepressants, reading more books, playing sport outside,” eSafety Commissioner Inman Grant told the Sydney Dialogue last week.
But she said she would also monitor unintended consequences.
“Will they turn to the dark realms of the web? What will be the consequences?”
Six experts from Stanford University’s Social Media Lab will work with the eSafety Commissioner to collect data, and the entire process will be reviewed by an independent academic advisory group of 11 academics from the US, UK, and Australia.
Stanford University said its approaches, methods and findings will be made publicly available for scrutiny by researchers, the public and policy makers around the world.
“We hope that the evidence generated can directly support and inform decision-making in other countries seeking to promote children’s online safety within their jurisdictions,” the university said in a statement.
