Not just kids: Everyone to be age verified for social media
The federal government has confirmed its forthcoming youth social media ban will require Australians of all ages to confirm their age when accessing social media.
Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese affirmed the government will be ploughing ahead with its plans for a social media ban preventing under-16-year-olds from accessing such platforms as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and video streaming platform YouTube.
The unprecedented ban has drawn swathes of criticism – not only for threatening pivotal community and educational resources for youth social media users – but also for the logistics of how it will be implemented.
During a Senate Committee hearing last week, Greens senator David Shoebridge probed the means of delivery for an age-based social media ban – revealing the technology currently trialled for the initiative would effectively require users of all ages to run through an age assurance check.
When asked whether “everybody” will have to go through the age-checking process as part of testing whether a user is aged 16-plus, James Chisholm – deputy secretary of communications and media at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA) – simply replied “yes”.
