As a result, Australia has become the first country in the world to introduce such a landmark ban on children using social media before their 16. This makes it the first country to implement such bans. The key legislation shields minors from actual, present-day digital threats. The reality is that because of this rule, millions of children and teens have already lost access to their accounts. The ban is the subject of significant international attention. As a result, countries such as Malaysia, Denmark and Norway are already having conversations about developing them.
This week, Inman Grant, the federal eSafety Commissioner, is doing just that. Specifically, he is sending notices to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in order to determine whether or not they are in compliance with the new rules. You’ll explore the extent to which accounts have been deactivated or deleted. You’ll look into the unique challenges platforms are facing with enforcing the ban, how they handle abuse reports and appeals, and much more.
“We will look at the benefits over time, but also the unintended consequences,” – Inman Grant
Tuesday, all of the big platforms but X had declared their adherence to the ban. Grant homed in on 15 companies that weren’t covered by the ban to begin with. She wished for them to internally evaluate how eligible they were to be included. 9 New rules Platforms have to follow the new rules. If they miss those deadlines, they would be subject to strict penalties, including up to $49.5 million in fines.
The k-ID service also fuels age verification for companies such as Snapchat. More recently, it has done hundreds of thousands of safety checks. Despite these campaigns, many teens are starting to feel the effects of the ban in a big way. Hear from Patty, a worried parent whose 15-year-old daughter is addicted to opioids. She is “very stressed out as snap chat erroneously verified all of my friends who are 14-15 years old as over 18.”
Furthermore, emerging platforms such as Yope and Lemon8 saw a surge in popularity as teenagers sought alternatives to mainstream social media. Yet even they have faced scrutiny, as Grant has had to contact each of them about their compliance status.
Bluesky, a new alternative to X, is requiring users under 16 to leave its platform. This decision is even more surprising given that eSafety deemed the platform to be “low risk” due to its smaller user base of approximately 50,000 Australians. The ongoing developments have raised various questions about the effectiveness of age verification methods and their impact on young users.
“From the beginning, we’ve acknowledged this process won’t be 100% perfect. But the message this law sends will be 100% clear … Australia sets the legal drinking age at 18 because our society recognises the benefits to the individual and the community of such an approach,” – Anthony Albanese
According to recent polling data, about two-thirds of voters are in favor of raising the minimum age to use social media to 16 years old. Instead of welcoming the ban, some opposition leaders, like Sussan Ley, have been worried about the ban’s potential ramifications. First, they supported the bill in parliamentary debates. Now, though, they’re raising red flags on its roll-out and potential impact.
Inman Grant reiterates that continued research will be laser-focused on the impacts this ban is having on young people. She emphasized that it’s important to assess their quality of life.
“Everything from are they sleeping? Are they interacting or are they actually getting out on the sports fields? Are they reading books? Are they taking less medication like antidepressants? Are their Naplan scores improving over time?” – Inman Grant
The ban’s collateral damage goes well beyond the typical recreational user. It has a profound impact on vulnerable people like Ezra, a young quadriplegic who has been locked out of his social media accounts under the new rules. His story points to the unintended consequences of enacting sweeping regulations designed to protect kids online.
As families adapt to this new reality of remote and hybrid learning, parents are understandably frustrated and some are building solutions. As one parent told us, we had to teach our kid how to use a VPN. They demonstrated other ways to go around age limits on sites like Snapchat.
“I’ve shown her how VPNs work and other methods on bypassing age restrictions,” – Parent
One parent tweeted that they created a parent YouTube account for their child. They facilitated the child’s evasion of TikTok’s age verification process.
“I’ve had to set her up with her own adult YouTube account and have assisted her in bypassing TikTok’s age-estimation and will keep doing so each time it asks,” – Parent