Labor’s social media age assurance trial kicked into next year

A technology trial to ensure social media companies can enforce an age limit is yet to begin more than six months after Labor announced funding for the critical step to protect children online.

A technology trial to ensure social media companies can enforce an age limit is yet to begin more than six months after Labor announced funding for the critical step to protect children online.

The go-slow means the federal government will have to unveil its social media age limit proposal without the results of the technology pilot, as Labor remains committed to introducing the legislation before parliament rises at the end of November.

Communications department officials on Tuesday told a senate estimates hearing the tender for the trial — first announced by Anthony Albanese in May — was only due to be finalised “in the coming days,” with the project expected to be completed in the “first half of next year”.

Officials said the trial would inform the “implementation” of the government’s age limit laws, and was not required for the initial legislation.

But the Coalition has criticised the pace of the important piece of work at a time when Australian parents worried about the impact of social media on their children are “crying out” for “decisive action”.

An age assurance technology trial that will be used to inform social media age limit is yet to start. Picture: Denis Charlet/AFP

At the hearing, department deputy secretary James Chisholm said technologies to “assure” an age would be explored and tested in real life by Australian adults and children.

“The trial is to provide confidence that industry has the technology available to it to assess whether certain ages are accessing content,” he said.

Facial recognition, videos of hands, analysis of keystrokes or answers to certain questions are among the emerging technologies able to determine a user’s age with varying accuracy.

Labor allocated $6.5 million in the 2024-25 budget to test a “wide range” of these technologies in a pilot first announced by the Prime Minister on May 1.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says the government will introduce social media age limit legislation this year. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Albanese then pledged to introduce laws establishing a minimum age for social media in Australia, indicating his personal preference was to set the limit at 16-years-old.

The Coalition has also backed raising the minimum age, with the bipartisan support coming after News Corp’s Let Them Be Kids campaign highlighted the harms to children’s mental and physical health and advocated for the age to be raised to 16.

After consulting with states on the issue, the PM now only has three weeks to unveil his proposal before parliament ends for the year.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland last month confirmed Labor’s plan would put the legal responsibility on social media platforms to enforce the age limit, with no penalties for individuals.

It would also have a minimum 12-month implementation period.

Coalition communications spokesman David Coleman has criticised the go-slow on Labor’s age assurance trial. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

A spokesman for Ms Rowland said the government was “committed to introducing legislation this year”.

“The legislation will include a minimum age for access to social media,” he said.

But Coalition communication spokesman David Coleman said it was “farcical” the age assurance trial still hadn’t started.

“The government opposed a trial a year ago, then they said they would do it in May, and they still haven’t gotten it off the ground,” he said.

“Millions of Australian families are crying out for decisive action, but what we get instead from this government is weakness and no action at all.”