Government's social media age checks to go younger than proposed

The tender requests that an industry partner assess the technologies available for determining whether a user of social media is between 13 and 16 years old, "in order to permit the user to create an account on a social media website or application".

The release of the tender follows Anthony Albanese announcing today the government will legislate to ban children below a certain age from accessing social media.

While the government has not set the age cut-off, the Prime Minister said he preferred a "higher limit" and was looking at between 14 and 16.

The federal move comes after the South Australian government proposed forcing social media companies to ban children 13 years or younger with the threat of fines for platforms that do not do so.

The age assurance trial is being conducted by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts and received $6.5 million in funding in the 2024 budget.

The Department is also seeking an evaluation of age assurance technologies that would block children under the age of 18 from accessing age-restricted online content.

"The trial outcomes will help inform future decision of government on implementing age assurance technologies," the tender documents state.

The tender documents set out that the technology could use facial age estimation for low risk services. For high risk content, the technology could require a government ID or other authentication methods.

The technology could be applied not just when a user attempts to sign in to a social media network, but could also assess their age when they access a device or when they open an app.

The tender documents also propose that social media platforms should be engaged with, however Department staff told a senate inquiry earlier this year that the agency had no power to force companies such as Meta - which owns Facebook and Instagram - TikTok and Snapchat to be involved.

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Experts have questioned whether the government's proposed social media ban will be effective in reducing harm to young people.

Lisa Given, a professor of information sciences at RMIT University said a ban was "premature" and "not supported by clear evidence".

"There are technological challenges around age verification that will make a ban very difficult to enact or enforce. For example, strategies of age assurance are easily circumvented by users, while strategies for verifying age raise data privacy concerns," Dr Given said.

The government may also face a challenge in getting its legislation through the Parliament, with the Liberals understood to have concerns.

The Greens have also said a ban is not the approach they would endorse.

Most social media companies impose a condition that users must be above 13 years old, but the rule is not enforced.

CEO of the Tech Council of Australia Damian Kassabgi said local tech supported keeping young people safe online.

"We support steps to address harms to young people that are evidence-based, proportionate and targeted to identified areas of risk that also deliver real results and accountability," he said.

"We believe that technology should be used effectively and safely, and we have shown that we can be leaders in the best development of technology that can enhance the lives of users and businesses in Australia and around the world."

Queensland Premier Steven Miles backed his South Australian counterpart's proposal of a 14 year old age limit, however NSW Premier Chris Minns told a press conference that he would limit social media access to 16 and above.

The trial will start in October and run for six months.