Tech giants say they will implement restrictions as required.

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SOCIAL MEDIA GIANTS TO COMPLY

Major social media companies, including Meta, TikTok and Snapchat, have announced their intention to comply with Australia’s law ‘banning users under 16’ from platforms.

According to reports, executives from these companies have expressed ongoing scepticism about the policy’s enforcement and effectiveness, but confirmed their commitment to adhere to the deadline at a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

Meta’s Global Head of Safety, Antigone Davis, stated in a submission to Australian lawmakers that while the company disagrees with aspects of the legislation, it will “comply with local laws”.

Similarly, TikTok’s Head of Trust and Safety for Australia and New Zealand, Ella Woods-Joyce, noted the platform would work to implement the restrictions despite concerns.

Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, echoed these sentiments, with a spokesperson telling Reuters that the company will enforce the ban – warning, however, it could drive young users to unregulated corners of the internet.

This compliance announcement follows months of lobbying and public opposition from the tech giants, who argued that the ban could be difficult to enforce without invasive age-verification methods.

At the parliamentary committee, social media giants were also asked to respond to the privacy risks of requiring IDs to verify user accounts.

They confirmed government identification may be required to properly enforce the laws:

TikTok’s Ella Woods-Joyce acknowledged that ID-based verification could become part of the age assurance process.

“With respect to taking IDs, of course, that is one option among many options that our users might have to assure their age,” Woods-Joyce said.

“When we use an ID verification, we are actually relying on a trusted third-party provider. They will send a signal back to us as to whether the user is old enough. They are privacy-preserving and we’re doing our very best to make sure that we’re not collecting more information than we need.”

Facebook Director of Policy Mia Garlick also said government IDs “may be used” as part of the age assurance process.

“We do use a third-party provider, Yoti, where people are given the option either of video selfie, which is an age estimation approach, or providing government IDs,” she said.

“We don’t store any of that as part of our processes, that’s all maintained by Yoti. There are some instances where we do ask for ID if we think an account is fake.”

Snapchat highlighted the risks of requiring sensitive information under the Albanese government’s tight December 10 deadline.

“This is an incredibly complicated situation, and Australia is a first mover in this space,” Jennifer Park Stout, Global Policy & Platform Operations, told the committee.

YouTube will also be caught up in this, after it was revealed accounts will now be included as part of the laws, despite initially giving the platform an exemption.

YouTube no longer exempt under social media age verification scheme
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Tech specialists believe the company will use a “waterfall approach” to age checks, with tiers of age verification depending on risk factors – but the companies are still working through the “precise machinations”.

It seems we may not know exactly how this will be enforced until the very last minute, but this news at least reveals social media giants have stopped fighting the push.

Now, we sit back, as the Orwellian Ministry of Truth looks to further monitor and control the internet – under the same old guises of ‘safety’ and ‘security’.

AGE VERIFICATION RISKS

Age assurance restrictions have a number of privacy risks, as it naturally requires the collection of incredibly personal information.

Not only in regard to what the government can do with the information – ie supress free speech online, track groups without anonymity, etc – but also the outside risks involved.

The warning about potential hacking comes in the wake of a high-profile hack of a third-party provider handling Discord’s age verification appeals.

The platform had official ID photos of around 70,000 users stolen, highlighting the risks of forcing people to sacrifice sensitive personal information online.

As was seen by the Discord breach, it is alarming when users have their private data leaked into the public, and this is a story that has become more common these days.

Data deletion will be key to Australia’s age-verification rollout, in the words of an industry body who advised lawmakers on the legislation.

But can it really be trusted?

Where will the data be stored if social media companies are responsible for it?

Let’s not forget that last year, the Australian Information Commissioner enforced penalties against Meta over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, after the owner of Facebook agreed to a $50 million settlement.

The commissioner sued the tech giant in 2020 over the alleged breach of 311,000 Australian users’ privacy.

It alleged Facebook “committed serious, and/or repeated interferences with privacy in contravention of Australian privacy law”, saying personal information of some Australian Facebook users was disclosed in breach of the Privacy Act.

What is to say government IDs of millions of Australians won’t also be exposed?

The trial is being led by the Age Check Certification Scheme – a company based in the United Kingdom that specialises in testing and certifying identity verification systems.

Who is running the trials for Australia’s social media laws?
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Earlier this month, a preliminary report from trials suggested everything is ‘robust and ready’ for rollout, with “ no significant technological barriers preventing the deployment”. We shall see about that.

Social media verification trial finds technology is ‘effective’ ahead of rollout
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Pending age verification programs will not just be limited to social media platforms, but will also include search engines and map apps.

How age verification laws will impact search engines and map apps
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Over time, the scope will likely continue to expand and broaden to engulf much of the internet, and the eSafety Commissioner’s office is already eyeing other platforms.

Then, of course, we return to the deeper fears.

The slow creeping implementation of a Chinese-style ‘social credit system’ right here in Australia, which will see a society where nobody can think or say what they feel, without concern of punishment.

A digital Thought Police that will monitor and scan everything that users do online, and as the road to 2030 heats up, will take censorship to an entirely unprecedented level.

There will be ways around this, but sadly, many Australians will just go along with it without thinking twice about the long-term consequences.

Make sure you are not one of these people.

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