Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells outlined rules for social media companies to follow as the nation prepares to enforce a ban on social media for children younger than 16 before the end of the year.
Wells outlined the steps social media platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube must follow to purge their user bases of people younger than 16 and prevent young people from accessing their platforms or face a fine of $33 million beginning Dec. 10.
“This industry guidance makes clear our strong expectations that social media platforms step up to the plate to implement the minimum age in a way that is effective, private, and fair on Australian users,” Wells said.
Under the guidelines shared on Monday, social media companies are expected to detect underage accounts and deactivate or remove them while also establishing measures to prevent underage users from simply making new accounts or otherwise circumventing the ban to access the platforms.
The ban, however, does not establish a legally enforceable standard for how social media companies carry out this process. It does not require the companies to require all users to verify their ages or outline a specific process or technology the companies should use to discover underage users.
The standard urges the companies to use a “layered” approach to ensure that they have taken “reasonable steps” to remove children younger than 16 from their platforms.
Platforms are explicitly not allowed to ask for government-issued ID as the sole form of age verification but can present it as part of a variety of options to confirm one’s age. They are also prohibited from simply transferring underage users to a separate platform for children under 16 without their explicit consent.
“With the support of the regulatory guidance being published today, there is no excuse for non-compliance,” Wells said. “We are not anticipating perfection here, these are world-leading laws, but we are requiring meaningful change through reasonable steps that will seek cultural change and a chilling effect that will keep kids safe.”
It will be mandatory for companies to disclose information and statistics to the eSafety Commissioner and the public.
(UPI)
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