Global tech vendors jostle to supply solution for Labor's teen social media ban
More than 50 companies including Japan's Fujitsu and US unicorn Incode have entered the race to supply age verification tech for the government.
More than 50 companies including Japan's Fujitsu and US tech unicorns Incode and Persona are vying to supply age verification technology to the Australian government ahead of the planned introduction of its social media ban on under 16's in November.
Meta and Snap — the primary targets of the ban — have also submitted expressions of interest to join the the government’s Age Assurance Trial, which runs until late June, as have nearly a dozen UK companies including iProov, a startup which last raised USD70 million in 2022, as well as handful of local startups and firms from Asia.
Critics of Anthony Albanese’s world-first social media ban argue that it will be impossible to enforce, predicting that tech-savvy teenagers will find ways to bypass any restrictions.
But that hasn't stopped several vendors from entering the race to supply the solutions.
