‘A welcome backflip’: Porn passport trial to keep kids off adult websites

Children will be blocked from watching explicit content online under a federal government porn passport trial, a move Australia’s online safety watchdog says was partly driven by a backlash against Labor’s earlier reluctance to force adult sites to shield young people.

Restricting access to porn and banning artificial intelligence-created sexual content were headline solutions from a national cabinet meeting at which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and state leaders discussed ideas to counter violence against women.

Labor will spend $6.5 million on a pilot program that would force people to prove their age, likely through the use of electronic “tokens” that may also be required for alcohol delivery services and gambling sites.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said tackling the dangers of the internet was seen by some as a profound problem “too overwhelming for governments”, but argued it was important political leaders did what they could.

“The reality is that digital platforms are influencing our culture and our social lives. [The platforms] have a fundamental responsibility to step up and do more,” she said.

“The content that digital platforms serve, through algorithms and recommender systems, particularly to young Australians, has an impact in reinforcing harmful and outdated gender norms.”

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The opposition has for months called for age verification for social media sites, which were not captured in Labor’s announcement but could be examined in the upcoming trial.

The eSafety Commissioner in August recommended the government trial age assurance technology. At the time, Rowland opted against it and said the government was focused on tech firms and the watchdog negotiating a set of codes to reduce harm such as giving parents more information and filters.

The eSafety Commission’s head of policy, Kelly Tallon, said last month that Rowland’s decision prompted a “public reaction”.

“We did hear from not only people across government but sections of children’s advocacy and others that they were concerned and wanted to see a pilot move forward,” she said in a speech at a UK conference seen by this masthead.

Tallon said there had since been an “evolution of the messaging” from Rowland who had seemingly become more positive about a trial.

Opposition communications spokesman David Coleman said Wednesday’s announcement was a “massive backflip” by the government, “but a very welcome one”.

“The commissioner’s recommendation, and the pleas of children’s and women’s safety advocates, are finally being acted on. In the future, age verification will be the linchpin in protecting children online,” Coleman said.

A number of different technologies can be used to determine people’s age online. The governments of France, Germany, the UK and some US states are all considering forms of age verification.

Apps that can scan a person’s face and guess their age are offered by some companies. Other systems ask a person to submit images of their ID.

The eSafety Commissioner recommended a system that used an electronic token granted by a trusted private provider, subject to government regulation, once a person’s age is proven.

In its research, the commissioner found a large proportion of young people accessed porn on social media sites rather than porn-specific sites, raising questions about the efficacy of porn-only age restrictions.

“Most research participants aged 16-18 thought there were negative (negative or very negative) effects of online pornography on young people’s understanding and expectations of consent (74 per cent), sex (76 per cent), relationships (76 per cent), and gender (64 per cent),” the watchdog’s report said.

“While the research is complex, and in some cases, conflicting, the main harm which emerges is an association between mainstream pornography and attitudes and behaviours which can contribute to gender-based violence.”

Digital Rights Watch’s head of policy Samantha Floreani, a privacy advocate, cautioned against overzealous digital regulation, saying: “We simply cannot content-moderate and age-verify our way out of systemic misogyny and violence”.

“Online harms warrant careful policy intervention, but many of the proposals put forward today are riddled with assumptions, underdeveloped thinking, and seem cobbled together in response to the current political moment,” Floreani said.

“It was less than a year ago that the government determined that age assurance technology is not sufficiently mature and comes with too many significant privacy and security risks to move forward with the trial. Nothing about the maturity or risk has changed, so it is disappointing to see the government change its position on this.”

Matt Berriman, a former Mental Health Australia chief who quit last week over perceived government inaction on mental health funding, said an age restriction for social media was needed.

“In general this government has been slow to rein in tech companies,” he said, adding that the government’s approach to tackling online dangers was reminiscent of its inertia on mental health reform that, in part, prompted his departure.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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