Australia to Enforce Age Restrictions on Popular Social Media Platforms
CANBERRA – A new Australian law is set to significantly restrict access to several popular social media platforms for users under the age of 16. The eSafety Commissioner has announced a list of platforms requiring age verification, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), Kick, and Threads.
The legislation, designed to enhance online safety for children, mandates that platforms with a significant risk of exposure to harmful content must verify the age of their users. Those failing to comply face substantial fines.Platforms are required to implement age-verification measures by February 2024, tho some have requested extensions.
Currently, platforms falling outside of exempt classes – including messaging, email, voice or video calling, online games, health, education, professional development, or services enabling information about products or services – are subject to the ban for users under 16.
Kick, an Australian competitor to Twitch, has been added to the list of age-restricted platforms, alongside Twitch and roblox, which the eSafety Commission recently suggested could also soon fall under the ban.Threads, a microblogging platform linked to Instagram, is also included, as access requires an existing Instagram account.
The eSafety Commission has stated it will continue to assess platforms and reinforce that exclusion from the ban does not guarantee absolute safety. “As parents, we will need to continue being engaged in our children’s online lives,” the commission stated.
