Software consultants hired by the Australian Government to determine how to enforce the world’s first social media ban for teenagers, They have worked on defense and electoral contracts, but they will use another experience for their study: the fight with their own children on the Internet.
“We are all parents of children of different ages and we are aware of all the tricks they use,” said Andrew Hammond, CEO of technology company KJR, which will carry out the trial with about 1,200 Australians chosen at random between January and March.
“Children are very inventive, so we will have our eyes and ears wide open,” added Hammond, whose previous projects included testing deployment software for Australian troops in Afghanistan.
The study, one of the largest tests of age verification technology ever conducted, will likely set the course for lawmakers and tech platforms around the world in their fight to restrict age on social media, at a time of growing concern about young people’s mental health and data collection.
Starting in late 2025, platforms such as Meta’s Instagram, Elon Musk’s X, TikTok and Snapchat, They will have to demonstrate to Australians that they take reasonable steps to keep users under 16 away or face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (US$32 million).
Google’s YouTube, a classroom staple, is exempt.
But the legislation does not specify what reasonable measures should be. That depends on the trial, supervised by the British consultancy Age Check Certification Scheme, which expects the participation of about 12 technology companies and must give recommendations by mid-2025.
Options include age estimation, in which a user’s selfie video is biometrically analyzed and then deleted; age verification, in which a user uploads identifying documents to a third-party provider who sends an anonymous confirmation “token” to the platform; and age inference, in which a user’s email address is matched against other accounts.
“The approach the Australian Government takes could influence how other countries approach online age controls for social media content,” said Julie Dawson, director of policy and regulation at age verification company Yoti, which runs checks for Meta’s new system of enhanced privacy settings for teenage Instagram users.
Some European countries and US states have legislated minimum ages for social media, but none have put in place an enforcement regime due to legal challenges based on the preservation of privacy and freedom of expression.
Even Australian conservative opposition lawmakers, whose support was necessary for the center-left government’s ban to be approved in Parliament, They warned that the ban could justify the collection of personal information.
They echoed a message published in November by Elon Musk, owner of “seems like a backdoor way to control internet access for all Australians.”
Communications Minister Michelle Rowlands told Parliament that the ban “It has nothing to do with the Government imposing any type of technology or requiring the delivery of personal information to social media companies.”
A last minute change in the law stipulates that platforms who ask for identification documents must offer an alternative age gate.
Young users, younger technology
Pressure to block minors’ access to certain parts of the Internet has existed since pornography and gambling sites invaded the early days of the Internet, but it took on new urgency since a Meta whistleblower leaked internal emails in 2021 that supposedly showed that its products were harmful to young users.
Meta has claimed that the documents were misinterpreted.
The increase in demand has driven technological development, But no product is foolproof when it comes to combining accuracy, privacy, security and ease of use, says Tony Allen, CEO of the Age Check Certification Scheme, which will test products for Australia against these criteria.
Besides, many people in the age group targeted by the bans lack common identification documents, such as a driver’s license or credit card.
This helps make the case for age verification technology by analyzing a person’s traits, such as facial or hand wrinkles.
Yoti, Meta’s partner in age verification, says its accuracy has improved to the point where it can identify more than 99% of people aged 13 to 17 as under 25. He says his standard deviation of error in guessing the age of an 18-year-old is just over a year.
According to Konstantin Poptodorov, Director of Fraud and Identity at digital identification company LexisNexis Risk Solutions, This figure may not be precise enough to impose an age restriction in a country of 27 million inhabitants, while highlighting rapid improvements and adoption of technologies such as facial recognition over the past decade.
Meta’s policy director for Australia and New Zealand, Mia Garlick, said Yoti benefited from Instagram’s teen privacy policy, but when it came to appearance “some people grow very fast, and others don’t.”
Meta did not know whether expanding its Yoti deal would satisfy the Australian ban because “We don’t know if what we are currently doing is going to be considered ‘reasonable measures’,” he added.
Providers who rely on uploaded identification documents can participate in the trial, but “Almost the whole ethos behind how Age Guarantee works is ‘we don’t want to collect any data,'” said Allen, CEO of the age certification system.
Software consultants will ask some of the test participants to try to trick the technology with appearance adjustment filters, but they will only eliminate products that fail to avoid cheap and scalable solutions.
Allen didn’t lean toward either, but he did predict a recommendation. “Consumers should be able to choose,” he stated.
“They should all be equally effective and meet a certain level of warranty, but if you’re looking for a magic wand you won’t find it.”
