Social networks will try to exclude under-16 Australians

“Age bans won't work,” TikTok refers to expert assessments. “Legal age limits will not work.” Nevertheless, the Chinese video service will implement the Australian social network ban for all under-16s, decided in an expedited procedure to the best of its ability, as required, from December 10. This was emphasized by a representative on Tuesday (local time) at a hearing in the Australian Senate. However, she pointed out that the ban would push children into corners of the internet where no rules are followed at all.

Representatives of Meta Platforms and Snap, which operates the messaging service Snapchat, also pledged to endeavor to comply with the regulations they rejected. Snap takes the position that it is exempt from the ban according to the text of the law. The Law contains an exception for services that are used exclusively or primarily for voice calls, video calls, and/or messaging. And Australian Snapchat users use these parts of the offering for 75 percent of their usage time. Furthermore, users cannot communicate with other users without their consent, which is only possible after mutual agreement. In addition, legal guardians can view their children's usage.

However, the Australian data protection authority and the eSafety Commissioner have refused Snap permission to apply this exception. Snap feels unfairly treated compared to WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage, but will comply with the decision.

Meta Platforms emphasized that Australia's age limit of 16 years is unique worldwide. The company's systems are trained to identify under-13s and under-18s. Meta will try to identify Australian 14- and 15-year-olds from now on, but this will necessarily be less reliable. In general, Meta relies on “age assurance” rather than necessarily “age verification”; the latter requires reference to an officially determined date of birth, i.e., usually official identification. Specifically, Meta relies on the external service provider Yoti, which gives users the choice of presenting an ID or uploading a video of themselves, based on which the age is estimated. However, Meta does not receive this data; it remains with Yoti.

Young users can freeze accounts

How the ban will be implemented from the user's perspective is unclear in detail and could differ in details between the three providers. Basically, it should come down to the choice between account deletion and account deactivation. The latter allows for later reactivation. In addition, Snap and TikTok offer downloads of an archive or one's own content.

Snap emphasized that it is seeking a “humane approach.” Especially for users who are just under 16 years old on the cutoff date of December 10, 2025, it would be painful if their account were forcibly deleted. Users who are mistakenly identified as 15 or younger can prove themselves by presenting an official ID.

Overall, approximately 1.5 million accounts in Australia are likely to be affected. Meta expects to deactivate around 150,000 Facebook accounts and twice as many Instagram accounts. TikTok states it has around 200,000 Australian accounts with an age indication of 13 to 15 years. Snap has 440,000. Like Meta, Snap also relies on automated systems that analyze user behavior and try to find and deactivate accounts with falsely higher age indications.

During the hearing, a senator wanted to know from the three data corporations how Australian authorities are supposed to enforce the child ban if parents help their children circumvent the ban. He admitted that this was not the providers' problem. He did not receive a real answer.

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