While the most accurate way of age assurance is verification with government identification documents, such as passports or a driver’s licence, eSafety says platforms must not rely solely on that method, and “reasonable alternative means” for age assurance must be offered to users.
OK, but what age verification methods will each social media platform be using?
Detail on age verification is limited, despite the looming ban.
Snapchat told this masthead in early November it did not have enough detail to provide specifics about how it will be implementing age assurance. Kick said it “intends to introduce a range of measures, which will be communicated to our community in due course”. A representative for Reddit said the platform did not have anything to share at this time, and representatives for Google and X did not respond.
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Meta and TikTok pointed this masthead in the direction of their representatives’ opening statements to the Environment and Communications References Committee, delivered on October 28. Both emphasised their focus is on complying with the social media minimum age act, without providing any concrete details as to how.
Meta’s regional director of policy Mia Garlick told the committee that it was “still working through the precise machinations” of deactivating accounts for under-16s.
eSafety recommends platforms employ a “waterfall approach” to age assurance, which consists of multiple methods and technologies, starting with the least complicated, least invasive option. That’s normally the inference method, where a user’s age is deduced with location data, such as an IP address, or behavioural data, such as the age of the account itself, or if the account engages with content targeted at children or early teens.
In the United Kingdom, since July, Pornhub has used a combination of email-based age estimation, and credit card, mobile phone or open banking verification. Another method is age estimation facial scans, but that’s not always accurate, and has a “known source of bias” when it comes to skin tone. Predictive technologies that work for over-18s are also known to struggle with accuracy for younger faces.
Where is the age verification information stored? Is my personal data secure?
It’s difficult to answer this question accurately when platforms have not disclosed what age assurance methods and technologies they are using.
Platforms must comply with the Privacy Act, and eSafety strongly encourages them to use non-sensitive personal information as much as possible. If sensitive personal information – such as government IDs – is required, platforms are not expected to retain it.
One platform that already uses government IDs to verify accounts is LinkedIn, which does it through a third party. LinkedIn does not receive biometric data, photos, numbers, or expiry or issue dates associated with the documents. The third party says it generally only retains the personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the verification.
Tinder does photo checks and verifications in-house, and says it deletes biometric data within 24 hours.
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Discord, which is not an age-restricted platform under the social media ban but did roll out age assurance in Australia and the United Kingdom this year, says it deletes facial images and identification documents directly after ages are confirmed.
In October, however, hackers gained access to “a small number of government ID images” from users who had appealed an age determination through the platform’s manual review process with its trust and safety team.
The main risk to the security of personal data, according to an expert from VerifyMy, is dodgy third-party providers that have not signed up to the voluntary global standards for age assurance, or scammers posing as third-party age assurers. Read the full story here.
Will my social media account be removed exactly by 12.01am on December 10?
A key word in the eSafety Commissioner’s regulatory guidelines is “from”.
The social media minimum age act is effective from December 10, which is when eSafety will be looking for evidence that accounts already identified as belonging to under-16s have been removed, and that age assurance methods have been implemented to prevent under-16s opening new accounts.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, pictured here with Communications Minister Anika Wells (left) at a press conference in November, said platforms weren’t assessed based on the harms they pose to children. Australia’s world-first ban is blocking platforms based on whether their “sole or significant purpose” is social interaction, which is why Roblox, for example, isn’t included despite safety concerns.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Snapchat, for example, has said at least 435,000 under-16s in Australia use its app. At least 300,000 use Instagram. Those accounts are expected to be removed on December 10. But some under-16s may wake up on December 10 and still be able to use age-restricted apps because their age has yet to be determined.
Platforms are expected by eSafety to have been monitoring common circumvention methods – increasing declared age to over 16, changing location settings – before December 10, and accounts with that type of activity to be flagged for review.
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Will my account disappear completely and the content deleted? Or will I get it back when I turn 16?
Meta has confirmed under-16s will be able to archive their existing Facebook, Instagram and Threads accounts so they can re-access them when they turn 16.
TikTok Australia’s public policy lead for content and safety Ella Woods-Joyce said in a hearing that the platform will give users identified as under 16 “a choice”.
“We will deactivate, and that will give the user the ability to archive their content that they already have, but, if they prefer, they can delete their account,” Woods-Joyce said on October 28. If they choose to delete their account, the account information will be deleted.
Representatives for Google, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat and X did not answer this masthead’s questions about whether accounts will be completely deleted, or deactivated with the possibility of restoration. Generally, you can download your account’s data on each platform through account settings.
What happens if I am mistakenly identified as under 16?
There is the possibility that social media users above the age of 16, or those who are not Australian residents but happen to be in Australia on December 10, could get caught up in the ban.
eSafety stipulates that users should have accessible options to dispute a platform’s age determination, and communications from the platforms throughout the appeals process should be clear and timely.
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How the reviews and reactivation process will actually play out has yet to be revealed by platforms. Kick, Meta, Reddit, Snapchat and TikTok declined to answer this question when asked by this masthead. Google and X did not respond.
A “good practice” example in eSafety’s regulatory guidelines included the option to reactivate an account after a successful appeal.
Will I be punished if I circumvent the social media ban?
No – and neither will your parents.
The responsibility is on platforms to comply with the law, which means they are responsible for confirming a user’s age and ensuring they can’t have an account if they are under 16.
Non-compliance carries a maximum penalty of $49.5 million for the platform – perhaps that is why some are suggesting that application stores confirm a user’s age before they can download an application.
eSafety expects platforms to detect when a virtual private network (known as a VPN, it masks your IP address and therefore can make it appear as if you’re in another location) has been used, and detect if that user is in Australia. They are also encouraged to have reporting systems in place, so users can flag other accounts they suspect belong to under-16s.
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