Social media platforms’ countdown begins for major Aussie kids ban

Australia’s unprecedented social media crackdown has tech giants scrambling to ban under-16s before the December deadline.

Communications Minister Anika Wells will meet with tech giants this week.

Social media giants have less than 60 days to ban Australian children from their platforms, as they will be reminded in a series of meetings this week.

With the federal government’s world-leading under-16 ban coming into effect on December 10, following News Corp Australia’s Let Them Be Kids campaign, Communications Minister Anika Wells will lay down the law to senior officials from Meta, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok in the coming days.

eSafety boss Julie Inman Grant will join Ms Wells in the individual virtual meetings, with a further discussion with X scheduled for November.

The platforms will be reminded they are responsible for putting processes in place that keep children off their platforms.

The government last month released regulatory guidance requiring them take reasonable steps, including being able to detect and deactivate existing underage accounts and prevent re-creation.

Ms Wells will tell the platforms, who face fines of up to $50m for not complying, that there is no excuse not to be ready.

She will stress that the law will give Australian kids three more years to build real-world connection and online resilience.

“In two months our world-leading social media minimum age laws will give children a reprieve from the persuasive pull of platforms and those platforms must work closely with eSafety to ensure their systems comply with the law,” she said ahead of the meetings.

“There’s a place for social media, but there’s not a place for predatory algorithms damaging children.”

With a national ad campaign set to begin airing next week, Labor wants the social media companies to start explaining to their users what they will do to abide by the laws.

Tech companies are not required to adhere to any one set of age-verification tools, but will be reminded this week there is an array of technology available to them to comply with the law.

The platforms have been told they should take a layered approach to age assurance in order to reduce errors and user friction, and cannot solely rely on government ID.

Self-declaration should also be avoided.

Education through the school system is also set to be discussed at a meeting of federal and state education ministers this Friday.

The minimum age laws, passed by the parliament late last year, have captured international attention and inspired other countries to consider following Australia’s lead.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced last month that the commission was considering how children in the EU could be restricted from using social media. She convened a panel of experts to study whether and how to implement a ban, and said they would be watching Australia very closely when our laws come into effect.

Twenty-five of the EU’s 27 member states last week supported investigating setting age limits.

Originally published as Social media platforms’ countdown begins for major Aussie kids ban