Jury out on child ban compliance by social media giants
Six months after Australia’s under-16 social media ban came into force, the online safety regulator says it is too early to tell whether platforms have met their obligations.
Since December, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube have been required to take steps to prevent young Australians from accessing their platforms.
The world-first ban, which requires users to be 16 or older to create or maintain a social media account, made international headlines in December.
Speaking before Senate estimates on Wednesday, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the watchdog had seen “some improvements” in industry compliance in recent months.
However, he said it should be determined whether they fulfill their legal obligations.
“We have not yet reached a final decision on whether the platforms have taken reasonable steps, which is the high standard we must prove under the legislation,” he said.
Under the Online Safety Act, platform providers are required to take “reasonable steps” to prevent children under 16 from having accounts.
While the watchdog has yet to take any enforcement action regarding the ban, Ms Inman Grant cited a number of examples of platforms changing their behaviour.
Ms. Inman Grant said companies were tightening age verification systems, restricting suspected underage accounts and removing barriers that made it difficult for parents to report children’s accounts.
He pointed to a platform that has reversed the practice of allowing users an average of 24 attempts each day to use a facial recognition service to verify their age.
“This gives them the opportunity to re-jailbreak or bypass the age assurance process and commit fraud,” Ms Inman Grant said.
While Ms. Inman Grant was not specifically concerned with the under-16 ban, she pointed to a recent enforcement action against Elon Musk’s X Corp as evidence of the watchdog’s authority.
The social media giant was fined $650,000 after the Federal Court found that it had failed to inform the eSafety Commissioner about steps the company was taking to combat child abuse material online.
This was the result of a years-long legal process, resulting in X Corp being ordered to admit liability and pay an additional $100,000 in legal costs.
“This is one of the few successful actions taken against X Corp by any regulator globally,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“Such results are hard to come by, and a significant evidence base shows that careful, methodical application delivers results.”
The commissioner also announced new enforcement measures against two AI “nudification” services accused of creating exploitative deepfake images.
Ms Inman Grant said one of the platforms was visited by up to 100,000 Australians a month, while the other received half that number.
