eSafety to publish early platform compliance findings before Christmas
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More news: eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant plans to publish the findings of early-stage compliance efforts by 10 social media platforms captured by the ban before Christmas.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Inman Grant said she will issue the platforms with information notices on Thursday and publicly report the findings by the end of the year. She said the findings will form a “baseline against which” the online safety regulator will measure compliance.
What they said: “Enforcing a minimum account age of 16 will create normative change and give young people a reprieve from powerful and persuasive design features built to keep them hooked, often enabling harmful content and conduct online,” the commissioner said in a statement released shortly after.
“We recognise no single safety measure is a silver bullet but restricting social media accounts for under 16s is part of a holistic approach that includes eSafety’s education and outreach; our complaint schemes; our role ensuring industry transparency and compliance with unlawful and age-restricted material codes and standards; and our work promoting Safety by Design.”
Meta says parents, teens show ‘little interest’ in social media ban compliance
The news: Meta says that it is already seeing compliance issues arise on the first day of the Albanese government’s under-16 teen social media ban, including “little interest” in compliance from parents and teens.
The details: In a statement provided to Capital Brief, Meta said that while it is committed to meeting its Australian legal obligations, compliance is one concern it is seeing previously raised by experts and youth groups.
The Instagram and Facebook parent company also flagged concerns over “isolating teens” from online communities, a migration of teens to less regulated apps and other parts of the internet, “inconsistent age verification methods” and “little interest" in compliance from many teens and parents.
Australia’s world-first teen social media ban took effect on Wednesday, following a harried consultation process last year and fierce opposition from the world’s largest social media platforms.
The laws will force social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, X, YouTube and others to keep users under the age of 16 off their platforms.
Those platforms that fail to take reasonable steps to keep underage users off their platforms face fines of up to $49.5 million.
What they said: “As Australia’s social media ban takes effect, Meta has removed access to Instagram, Threads, and Facebook for teens who we understand to be under 16, and will prevent new users under 16 from creating accounts. Ongoing compliance with the law will be a multi-layered process that we will continue to refine,” a Meta spokesperson told Capital Brief.
“While we’re committed to meeting our legal obligations, we’re already seeing some of the concerns come to light previously raised by experts, youth groups, and many parents who believe that blanket bans are not the solution," the spokesperson said.
"These include: isolating vulnerable teens from getting support from online communities, driving teens to less regulated apps and parts of the internet, inconsistent age verification methods, and little interest in compliance from many teens and parents. This will result in inconsistent application of the law and ultimately does not make young people safer," they said.
“We believe there is a better way: legislation that requires all of industry to invest in age-appropriate experiences — such as Meta’s Teen Accounts — and standardised, privacy-preserving, and secure age verification at the app store level with age signals shared across the digital ecosystem.”
The source: Meta statement
