With around two months to go, the countdown to the Government’s under-16s social media ban continues.

You may have seen Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent visit to the UN General Assembly in New York. He used his trip to the Big Apple as an opportunity to spruik Labor’s social media ban on the world stage.

Together with Communications Minister Anika Wells, Albanese pitched the legislation as “a crucial step in the right direction.”

The ban takes effect on 10 December, but there have been plenty of updates since it passed Parliament last year — including news that the legislation could be expanded to cover more platforms than originally expected.

Today, we’ll break down the latest on the youth social media ban, how it will work and what global leaders think about it.

In case you need a quick refresher…

The Government’s ban on children under 16 using social media passed Parliament in November last year.

It followed public campaigning to better protect young people from online harms.

Social media companies, including Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Snap Inc (Snapchat), could face fines of $50 million if under-16s create an account on their platforms.

Australia was the first country to legislate an age-specific social media ban.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has outlined a series of “reasonable steps” social media platforms must implement before the ban comes into effect.

Enforcement will fall on the platforms rather than individual users. Companies will be expected to do more than rely on users self-declaring their age, and instead adopt a “layered approach” to age-verification systems.

This includes detecting and deactivating accounts belonging to underage users.

We asked Communications Minister Anika Wells how the Government can prevent young Australians from finding loopholes to get around the ban.

Wells likened the policy to the introduction of seatbelt rules or the minimum drinking age. She said she has “no doubt” that many people tried to find workarounds to those laws at the start, but that these policies were “important for keeping people safe here.”

“ What we are expecting is meaningful change and ultimately a cultural change across our country in the same way,” Wells told TDA.

The idea of ‘something being better than nothing’ has been echoed by the Prime Minister, who told his global counterparts at the UN that the ban “isn’t foolproof”.

“The challenge we face is constantly evolving,” Albanese said.

When the ban was announced, it was expected to impact several major platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and Snapchat. YouTube was initially exempt, but the Government gave an update in July confirming the video streaming platform would be included in the ban.

A YouTube spokesperson said banning the platform would ignore “evidence from teachers and parents that [it] is suitable for younger users”.

The eSafety Commissioner is now considering extending the social media ban to include even more platforms.

Last month, Commissioner Grant wrote to several apps and sites, including Reddit, Pinterest, Roblox, Twitch and WhatsApp, asking them to make a case as to why they should or shouldn’t be included in the ban.

Minister Wells told TDA many of those platforms will self-assess as not qualifying for the social media laws, “and the eSafety Commissioner may or may not agree with that assessment, but that's all due diligence that [the Government will] keep on foot over the next few weeks”.

Last week, Albanese hosted a ‘Protecting children in the Digital Age’ event on the sidelines of the General Assembly (GA) to discuss the social media ban.

The GA is the United Nations’ main “deliberative, policymaking and representative” body. It was the first time Albanese attended the GA as Prime Minister.

Ballarat woman Emma Mason, whose 15-year-old daughter Matilda died by suicide in 2022, spoke at the event. During her address, she described the “direct role” social media played in Matilda’s death.

“This was death by bullying, but it was enabled by social media,” Mason said.

In a post to X, Albanese said: “We all have a responsibility to prevent harm online and that’s what we talked about today at … the United Nations.”

The event was attended by global leaders, including representatives from the European Union, Greece, Malta, Fiji and Tonga.

Minister Wells told TDA there was “a lot of interest from other countries about how [Australia is] rolling this out.”

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said she was “inspired” by Australia’s “landmark” and “world-leading” ban. She added that other countries will be “watching” and “learning” from Australia.

The conversation has continued around the world this week, with Oxford University Chancellor Lord William Hague welcoming the ban at an Australian High Commission event in London. During an address on Wednesday, he said it’s an “excellent policy” and hopes the UK “will follow [it]”.

In contrast to this support, the ban has been heavily criticised by social media platforms.

X CEO Elon Musk called it a “major threat to freedom of information, speech, and access to the internet”.

In a submission to the Government last year, Meta labelled the ban as “inconsistent and ineffective” and said it would “fail” to make young people safer online.

Researchers with the University of Queensland have highlighted their “multifaceted” concerns with a “blanket ban”.

“There are some marginalised young people who benefit from social media… [and] enforcement of the ban is unlikely to be feasible,” a statement from child health experts Dr Julie Blake and Professor James Scott said.

Enforcement will largely fall on social media companies, not individual users.

A variety of age verification technologies are currently on the table, including age estimation. This involves using scanning technology to analyse a user’s face, voice, and behaviour, to gauge how old they are.

More than 28,000 facial image tests were conducted as part of a recent Government trial. It found “above acceptable levels” of users over 16 being incorrectly denied access (what’s known as the ‘false rejection rate’).

For example, the report found 2.6% of 17-year-olds were mistaken for being under 16.

Another age verification technology called ‘age inference‘ scans existing online data to estimate a person’s age, based on their digital footprint.

However, the age assurance trial report warned that this technology may lead to an unethical level of data collection about individuals. There are also concerns around accuracy issues.

Melbourne and Princeton universities have conducted their own recent testing of facial age recognition technology.

Researchers wore masks, cheap party costumes and made silly faces to see how the technology would react.

While it may have taken a few attempts, Melbourne University Professor Shaanan Cohney told the ABC that facial recognition tools eventually caved and let the user through.

Cohney said: “Every age assurance vendor that we tested had one bypass that was easily accomplished with things that you could buy at your local $2 shop”.

With just over two months until under-16s are officially locked out of social media,  you can expect to hear more details about the specifics of the ban over the coming weeks.

As the December deadline approaches, Wells told TDA the Government is “looking to work with the platforms”. 

“I don't think anyone is expecting perfection come 10 December…  The laws need to adapt to changing and evolving circumstances to achieve their policy purpose, which is keeping Australian kids safe online.” 

Lifeline:
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Kids Helpline:
1800 55 1800

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