Australia: Virtually no barriers to access before social media ban for children

Social networks do not present any real hurdles for children who want to create an account. This has now been confirmed by Australia's authority responsible for internet safety, just a few months after a social media ban for the youngest children was passed in the country. The applicable age rules could easily be circumvented and are also inadequately enforced, criticizes eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant. Creating an account for children under 13 is "relatively easy", in most cases you only have to state your own age. Verification was not carried out in any of the cases investigated.

Not prepared for the ban

At the end of November, Australia's parliament decided to ban children and young people under the age of 16 from accessing social networks on the internet. The ruling Labor Party received support from the conservative opposition. The law is due to come into force at the end of this year. In a test phase, the social networks are to try out age verification systems, for example using biometric data or ID documents. The report now presented by the Online Safety Authority makes it clear that this is urgently needed. A survey and information from the platforms themselves were evaluated for the report.

Information for the report came from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snap, Reddit, Discord and Twitch. Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok reported that they each have 200,000 and 440,000 users aged 13 to 15 in Australia. According to the survey, 95% of teenagers of this age use at least one social network. According to the survey, it is not only the easy ways of circumventing the age limit that help. In some cases, parents also help by advising the wrong age, "because of the social pressure to give their children access and out of fear that their children would otherwise be socially disadvantaged."

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(mho)