What you need to know about Australia's social media ban for under-16s

Australian teenagers nether 16 are acceptable to look a world-first societal media prohibition from 10 December.

The authorities has near tech platforms specified arsenic TikTok and Meta scrambling to fig retired however to instrumentality the prohibition to debar fines of up to £25 million.

The companies request to find ways to adjacent existing accounts belonging to under-16s and halt caller ones from being created arsenic the authorities comes into effect.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner says the restrictions "aim to support young Australians from pressures and risks that users tin beryllium exposed to portion logged successful to societal media accounts".

"These travel from plan features that promote them to walk much clip connected screens, portion besides serving up contented that tin harm their wellness and wellbeing," the commissioner adds.

The instrumentality is designed to support children from imaginable intelligence wellness risks, cyber-bullying, and inappropriate content.

Australia's 2021 census showed determination are astir 2.5 cardinal 8 to 15-year-olds successful the country, and the authorities has estimated that 86 per cent of radical successful the property bracket usage societal media.

Which platforms volition beryllium affected?

The commissioner has determined that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, YouTube, Kick, and Reddit are age-restricted platforms.

But much generally, property restrictions volition use to societal media platforms that conscionable 3 circumstantial conditions, unless the Australian authorities determines they should beryllium excluded.

The conditions are:

• The sole purpose, oregon a important purpose, of the work is to alteration online societal enactment betwixt 2 oregon much users
• The work allows users to nexus to, oregon interact with, immoderate oregon each of the different end-users
• The work allows users to station worldly connected the service.

Platforms are liable for determining whether they acceptable the criteria and doing their ain ineligible assessments.

What apps volition not beryllium age-restricted?

According to the commissioner, Discord, GitHub, Google Classroom, LEGO play, Messenger, Pinterest, Roblox, Steam and Steam Chat, WhatsApp, and YouTube Kids are among those that volition not beryllium age-restricted.

ESafety determined the database connected 21 November, and said "there are nary further assessments planned successful the pb up" to the prohibition connected 10 December.

However, the Australian authorities has indicated that it is simply a dynamic database and different platforms could beryllium added astatine a aboriginal stage.

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What penalties could societal media platforms look if they don't comply?

Australia's Online Safety Amendment Act 2024 requires companies to instrumentality "reasonable steps" to halt underage users from signing up and utilizing their platform; they could look fines of up to $49.5 cardinal (£25 million) for failing to comply.

How volition property verification work?

This is the work of each platform. However, the Australian authorities has said that requesting ID cannot beryllium the lone mode to find someone's age.

Meta has said it volition comply with the ban; however, successful submissions to the Australian authorities past year, it said the authorities was "a missed accidental and overlooks the applicable world of property assurance exertion arsenic good arsenic the views of a bulk of intelligence wellness and younker information organisations successful the country".

Meta has said it expects issues with its technology, which could effect successful accounts belonging to radical who are really implicit 16 accidentally being unopen down.

Meta antecedently confirmed that its users aged 13 to 15 would person in-app messages oregon texts informing them their Facebook, Instagram and Threads accounts would beryllium removed arsenic aboriginal arsenic 4 December. It said it would trust connected age-estimation systems.

TikTok said successful a connection that it volition person a "multi-layered attack to property assurance," portion Snapchat volition usage behavioural signals to estimation ages.

Is the determination controversial?

As Meta did successful its submissions to the Australian government, respective different platforms person criticised the move.

Google and YouTube Australia's nationalist argumentation elder manager, Rachel Lord, said the tract volition automatically motion retired users who are deemed to beryllium nether 16.

But, she said, they tin inactive ticker immoderate YouTube videos portion signed out, and parents volition "lose their quality to supervise their teen oregon tween's account" and usage controls specified arsenic blocking channels.

Australia's communications curate Anika Wells responded, saying it was "outright weird that YouTube is ever astatine pains to punctual america each however unsafe their level is successful a logged retired state".

There has been disapproval of the authorities for excluding fashionable apps, peculiarly Yope and Lemon8, which are presently successful the apical 30 connected the Australian iOS App Store, arsenic kids look for alternatives.

Ms Wells told Australian media that "if we find that due to the fact that they've been logged retired of Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok [or] what person you, they extremity up connected Lemon8, past we volition look astatine whether the harm has transferred determination and whether we request to adhd them to the list".

Opposition person Sussan Ley said she has "no confidence" that the societal media prohibition would work.

Could the UK present a akin ban?

While Australia is starring the mode successful legislating age-restriction rules connected under-16s, the UK is besides navigating this benignant of discussion.

The authorities brought successful the Online Safety Act successful July, saying "the mode children acquisition the net volition fundamentally change".

It included property restrictions efficaciously banning under-18s from seeing "the astir harmful worldly connected societal media and different sites".

The instrumentality is aimed astatine stopping children from watching "harmful content" including pornography, self-harm, suicide, hatred code and violence.