‘They know’: Major warning to teens looking to circumvent Australia’s historic social media ban as under-16s booted from platforms
Aussie teens are already looking for ways to bypass the country’s landmark under-16 social media ban after it kicked in. But there’s a major catch as authorities warn these companies “know” about what’s going on.
Anthony Albanese says the global community is “looking at Australia” over the landmark social media bill, as the government issues a warning to teens circumventing the new restrictions.
As Australia brings in a world-first ban on social media for those under 16, reports of children bypassing age verification checks already in place have flooded the media.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said she expected these children and teens would soon be locked out of their accounts.
“Just because you’ve had your older brother scan their face for you today, which has bought you a bit of time, doesn’t mean that these (platforms) won’t see you talking to other 14-year-olds … don’t think that if you pass today you’ll be fine for the rest of the time,” she said.
Social media companies had an obligation to “go back and check” on the accounts of young people, and would be using the plethora of data available to them to determine if someone is under 16, she said.
“If you overnight have switched [your account] to Oslo but for the past few months have been posting from the Sunny Coast in Queensland, they know,” Ms Wells said
“That’s why we’ve said the onus is on the platforms to enforce this, not on parents.”
Addressing reports of circumvention, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said regulators were “playing the long game”.
“These isolated cases of teenage creativity, circumvention, spoofing and other ingenious ways people will inevitably push boundaries, will continue to fill newspaper pages, but we won’t be detoured,” she said.
Ms Grant joined Ms Wells and Anthony Albanese at Kirribilli House in Sydney on Wednesday to launch the ban.
She assured Australians the technologies underpinning the ban “can and will work”.
“We’ve been crystal clear with the social media companies about their responsibilities, and I have every confidence that the most powerful and innovative industry of all time has the technical capability to meet these obligations with precision and with continuous improvement,” she said.
“Tomorrow, I will issue information notices to 10 major platforms, and will provide information to the public before Christmas on how these age restrictions are being implemented and whether, preliminarily, we see them working.
“The responses to these notices will form the baseline against which we will measure compliance.”
Heralding the world-first ban, the Prime Minister said the global community was “looking at Australia and saying: ‘Well, if Australia can do it, why can’t we?’”
“It is one of the biggest social and cultural changes that our nation has faced,” he said.
“It’s a profound reform which will continue to reverberate around the world in coming months, to assist not just this generation, but generations to come.”
Mr Albanese admitted “this journey … won’t be perfect” and said it was about pushing back against “big tech”.
“It won’t be perfect because this is a big change,” he said.
“But I’ve been asked this morning in media interviews, what will success look like? Success is the fact that it’s happening. Success is the fact that we’re having this discussion, parents are talking to their children around the breakfast table.”
Mr Albanese said his pride to be prime minister of Australia had “never been greater”.
Courier Mail weekend editor Melanie Pilling said it was a historic day.
“Today is the day Australia becomes a world leader in protecting children online, the social media laws that have come into effect youth will change lives,” she said.
Ms Pilling said the ban was the “legacy” of children who had taken their own lives and their parents who supported News Corp Australia’s Let Them Be Kids campaign.
Millions of teens booted from social media
eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant has lashed out at tech giants as kids under 16 are booted from social media platforms in a world-first attempt to safeguard them from phone addiction and harm.
The landmark ban officially came into effect at midnight Tuesday, blocking teenagers under the age of 16 from accessing social media platforms.
Accounts suspected of being operated by a user under the age of 16 will be suspended unless they can provide ID verification.
The age-restricted social media platforms include Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Twitch, Reddit, Facebook, Threads and Kick.
As part of the ban, platforms will be required to take reasonable steps to stop children from having accounts.
Parents, guardians and children who fail to adhere to the ban will not face any consequences. However, platforms that refuse to comply could face a fine of up to $49.5m.
Elon Musk’s X to comply with ban
Elon Musk’s X said on Wednesday it would comply with the ban.
“It’s not our choice – it’s what the Australian law requires,” X said in a statement to its Help Centre.
X said it would, “where X is legally required to do so”, take a multifaceted age assurance approach to verify or estimate a user’s age.
That includes using “existing highly reliable signals”, such as previously self-attested age, if a user has previously provided their ID, or the date the account was created.
In the absence of those markers, X may use a user’s email address to estimate age.
Anyone signing up to X who does not already have an account can submit a government-issued ID “which will be used to verify their age by artificial intelligence systems”.
X said the collected data would be destroyed within 31 days.
Accounts belonging to people aged 16 to 18 will be defaulted to “protected posts” or private, and will be restricted to receiving direct messages from accounts they follow by default.
X has come under fire since Elon Musk’s takeover for allowing content including “consensually produced and shared adult pornography”.
That content is restricted for people aged 16 to 18.
On Tuesday, Reddit said it would also comply with the ban having earlier argued it was primarily an information service and not a social media application.
Downloads surge for non-banned apps
As teenagers are booted off social media platforms, there’s been a surge in downloads for apps not listed on the ban list.
Currently, the three most downloaded apps on Apple’s App Store are Lemon8, Yope and Coverstar, all of which act as alternatives to popular social media platforms TikTok and Instagram.
Lemon8 is a photo and video sharing platform owned and operated by ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok.
Yope describes itself as a “friends-only” platform allowing people to share videos and photos to a closed list of contacts.
Coverstar is an alternative to TikTok, which is moderated using AI and aimed at children aged between nine and 16.
Although the apps are not featured on the list of banned apps, Communications Minister Anika Wells said they were “on notice” and subjected to checks from the eSafety watchdog.
“If we find that because (teenagers have) been locked out of Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, what have you, they end up on Lemon8, then we will look at whether the harm has transferred there and whether we need to add them to the list,” she said.
eSafety commissioner lashes out at “kicking and screaming” tech giants
Speaking to the ABC, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said it was an “absolutely momentous” day.
“What is happening now and we, as parents, need to make sure that we’re preparing our kids for the summer holidays to fill their time, kind of like we used to play, riding the bike and reading the books and playing the board games and going to the beach, she said.
“Our kids will be all right.”
She hit back at critics who said the rollout was “messy”, and slammed tech giants that were “kicking and screaming” about the ban.
“People will say the rollout was messy, well it was always going to be messy when you’re dragging the most powerful, rich companies kicking and screaming into doing something they don’t want to do,” she said.
“It is the right thing for Australian children.”
She said the commission would work with platforms to ensure they comply with the ban.
“We have to work with the platforms and make sure they’re continuing to innovate and improve,” she said.
“If we see blatant noncompliance or if we’re challenged in court around our notices or enforcement action we take, we will take each step as it comes.”
Ms Inman Grant said some social media platforms were already signalling pushback against the ban, despite following the rules.
“There are seven stages of grief – we have seen some (platforms) be very accepting, some in denial, some are angry,” she said.
“You can see, even in the letters they sent to users, about how much they dislike the policy. That shows the character of the company and how they’re taking this.”
Anthony Albanese said he was very proud” to unveil the ban on Wednesday morning.
“Young people themselves have said enough is enough,” he said.
“This is the day when Australian families are taking back power from these big tech companies.
“They are asserting the right of kids to be kids and for parents to have greater peace of mind.
“This is a proud day.”
The Prime Minister acknowledged the new restrictions “won’t be simple” but remained an “important” step to protect young people.
“It will be a difficult period going through … any transition is of course,” he said.
“We also want to have those discussions between parents and teachers and young people and to engage. This is a very important.”
Mr Albanese said seven out of 10 young people who use social media had been exposed to some form of harassment.
“One of the dynamics that has occurred over a period of time is people being addicted effectively, he said.
“It has an impact on brain functions. It is addictive.”
He said the ban would encourage children to step away from the screen and reconnect with others face-to-face.
“We understand this is going to be difficult, but it is so important that young people are given the opportunity to actually grow as young humans, and to differentiate as well between what is real in human interactions and what they can often be exposed to online,” he said.
While the ban has officially come into effect from Wednesday, Ms Inman Granttold Today there would be “teething issues” with some accounts that have not yet been suspended.
“You may see some of these accounts being deactivated or removed. I don’t expect that they’re all going to magically disappear,” she said.
“There are going to be technology teething issues it takes a while to replicate through these major systems.”
She said the ban was intended to stop the exposure to “powerful algorithms and autoplay and Snap streaks that are designed to keep them entranced and entrenched”.
“We’re powerless to fight against that sometimes,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“What chance do our kids have? So this will balance the playing field and let’s hope they’re out on the playing field.”
Anthony Albanese addresses teens ahead of ban
Hours before the ban took effect, Mr Albanese issued a message to teenagers impacted by the social media crackdown.
In the video, he offered advice for teens left without anything to do once they’ve stopped scrolling.
“Start a new sport, learn a new instrument or read that book that’s been sitting there on your shelf for some time,” he said with a smile.
“Importantly, spend quality time with your friends and your family, face-to-face.”
He said the ban would allow kids to “make the most of school holidays coming up, rather than spending it scrolling on your phone”.
Social media ban “no silver bullet’
While the social media ban has been welcomed by safety advocates, the landmark move has garnered push back from experts, who argued the change was “no silver bullet” to solving the issue of rising anxiety and bullying among young people online.
“The changes mean kids won’t be targeted by algorithms, not that they’ll be completely protected from harmful content or contact altogether – it’s not a silver bullet, and that’s clear in the eSafety advice,” Royal Australian College of GPs specific interest child and young person’s health chair Tim Jones said.
“We all still have an obligation to ensure kids’ online experiences are safe and watch for online harms.
“The key thing is to have open conversations about your online lives and mental health, and to be aware of changes.”
Originally published as ‘They know’: Major warning to teens looking to circumvent Australia’s historic social media ban as under-16s booted from platforms
