New laws banning children under a certain age from social media platforms will be introduced in Australia, with age verification technology to be trialed as a way of limiting access before the end of October.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced nationwide minimum age requirements for social media and other digital platforms on Tuesday to better protect children from online harm.
Legislation is set to be introduced to Parliament before the end of this year, with the government committing to work with the states and territories on age limits and definitions through national-level consultation.
While the government has not decided on the age, Mr Albanese said the government is “looking at the range between 14 and 16” and that this would be informed by the $6.5 million age verification technology trial.
“We are going out with this trial… and we want to have that legislation introduced into the Parliament so that people can see the clear direction that it’s going in,” he said on Tuesday morning.
The trial, announced ahead of the federal Budget in May, will extend to social media, pornography and other online age-restricted services and be conducted by a third-party provider.
Tender documents released on Monday show the technical trial is slated to begin “on or around 28 October”, with the provider also expected to assess the “effectiveness, maturity, and readiness” of technologies in Australia.
Biometric age estimation, email verification processes, account confirmation processes, device or operating-level interventions are among the technologies that will be assessed for social media (13-16 years age band).
In the context of age-restricted online content (18 years or over), the Communication department has asked that double-blind tokenised attribution exchange models, as per the age verification roadmap, and hard identifiers such as credit cards be considered.
Other countries to zero in on the issue of age verification have hit roadblocks, with French data protection agency CNIL among those finding no solution capable of providing “reliable verification”.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner came to the same conclusion last August, finding that existing technology options were immature but recommending that a trial be conducted.
The government took the decision to trial the technology following a meeting of national cabinet on gender-based violence in May, having originally opted against it in favour of online safety codes.
Mr Albanese on Tuesday acknowledged the difficulties faced by other countries, but said there was a need to “muscle up against” social media giants that flout their social responsibility.
“These big multinational companies think they’re above all the people who provide the income for their massive profits that they undertake. But they do have a social responsibility, and that is something that we, as a government, are prepared to take on.”
Mr Albanese thanked South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas for initiating the work in May, when he appointed former High Court justice Robert French to examine a ban of social media for children.
The South Australian government released a 276-page report from Mr French on Sunday that recommends restricting access to social media for children aged under 14, with platform to face penalties for breaches.
The Children (Social Media Safety) Bill 2024 proposed in the report also includes a proposal to require social media companies to establish parental consent before allowing children aged 14 to access their platforms.
Mr Albanese said federal legislation will draw upon the findings of the report and engagement with the states and territories. Mr Malinauskas stressed the need for a uniform approach at National Cabinet on Friday.
“This is a problem that demands swift and decisive leadership and I thank the Prime Minister for demonstrating it,” Mr Malinauskas said while welcoming the national legislation on Tuesday morning.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton in June announced that a Coalition government would raise the age of social media access to 16 in recognition of the serious harm of social media on children.
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