What’s my age again? The tech behind Australia’s social media ban

SYDNEY – Tech giants will apply multiple layers of security to weed out young users under Australia’s

world-first ban on social media for under-16s

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Which platforms fall under the ban continues to be debated.

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok are covered, as are streaming platforms including Kick and Twitch.

YouTube was added, despite the government’s suggestion that it would be exempt so that children could watch lessons online.

Other popular apps and websites such as Roblox, Pinterest and WhatsApp are currently exempt – but the list remains under review.

If platforms that fall under the ban fail to take “reasonable steps” to block young teens, the companies behind these platforms face hefty fines.

Here are the main methods they are turning to as the law takes effect on Dec 10:

ID please

It sounds simple: scan your passport, driving licence or other official ID to prove you are aged 16 or over.

But beyond the potential for teens to use a parent or older sibling’s ID, this raises privacy concerns that could scare off people legally allowed to hold an account.

So, Australia has told social media platforms they cannot require users to show a government ID – even if a dispute arises over someone’s age.

Some platforms are employing third-party services to make the process smoother for users who choose to certify their date of birth this way.

For example, Snapchat account holders can prove their age through an Australian bank account, or by providing ID to the Singapore-based age verification service k-ID.

“The documents you submit will only be used to verify your age,” Snapchat’s parent company Snap says.

“Snap will only collect a ‘yes/no’ result on whether someone is above the minimum age threshold,” it explains.

Young users are still able to access some social media without logging in – they just cannot register for their own accounts.

Selfie time

Snapchat users can also take a selfie that k-ID will use to estimate their age – another verification technology now in the spotlight.

Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, has tasked a different company, the London start-up Yoti, to handle its ID and selfie age checks.

Over time, “the algorithm got very good at looking at patterns and working out, ‘this face with these patterns looks like a 17-year-old or a 28-year-old’”, Yoti chief executive Robin Tombs told AFP.

Yoti’s artificial intelligence can estimate someone’s age within a minute.

The firm, which TikTok also uses for age checks, says its tool should know if the person behind the camera is real, and not a photo or video.

Yoti removes all data after digitally analysing a face, Mr Tombs said.

But there are concerns over false results if the selfie-taker is very close to 16 years old, or finds new ways to fool the system.

Behaviour patterns

Not every Australian user will have to prove their age – only those suspected of holding an underage account.

Meta has already started deactivating accounts based on information such as the age given when they were created.

With so much data at their fingertips, social media platforms have several other ways of estimating a user’s age.

These range from the content consumed – a teen is more likely to search for gaming tips than how to descale a shower head, for instance – to a quieter period during the school day.

Birthday greetings from friends that include someone’s age could also be a giveaway, or if a user’s e-mail address has been used in the past for typically grown-up tasks.

Such signals are already used by social media companies to target their online advertising.

But here, too, there are privacy and accuracy concerns.

‘Waterfall’

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Ms Julie Inman Grant, has said that using “a waterfall of effective techniques and tools” can help avoid errors and mitigate privacy worries.

The country expects rebellious teens will do their best to skirt the laws, with platforms expected to devise their own means to stop this.

“Of course, no solution is likely to be 100 per cent effective all of the time,” the internet safety watchdog has said.

Mr Andy Lulham of the age-check tech company Verifymy said there would be challenges.

He said: “Age estimation methods may not always successfully pass every user, especially those who have just turned 16 but don’t have – or want to use – identification.

“In those cases, a responsible adult may be required to vouch for a child’s eligibility.”

Harsh penalties

Platforms face the threat of up to A$49.5 million (S$42.6 million) in fines if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to comply.

It remains unclear how Australia’s internet safety regulator would interpret or enforce what counts as reasonable.

“‘Reasonable steps’ means platforms have to act to enforce the restrictions in a way that is just and appropriate in the circumstances,” the regulator’s guidelines say. AFP