Australia’s Social Media Revolution: Minimum Age Limit and Age Verification

The Australian government has passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024, setting a minimum age limit of 16 for social media platforms. This law aims to protect young people from the potential harms of social media, including cyberbullying, harmful content, and online predators.

Social media companies will be required to take “reasonable steps” to prevent Australians under 16 from having accounts on their platforms. To achieve this, they will likely use age assurance technologies, such as age verification, estimation, and inference technologies. These technologies will help identify users’ ages without necessarily requiring government identification. The exact methods used will vary between platforms, but the government expects them to be private, robust, and effective ¹ ².

The new laws are designed to protect minors, and adults should not be significantly affected. However, some adults may experience minor inconvenience if they’re mistakenly identified as underage or if they need to verify their age. The laws also ensure that users’ privacy is protected, and platforms must offer reasonable alternatives to users who don’t want to provide age verification information.

The new social media laws in Australia are specific to the country and do not have direct implications for the Trump administration in the United States. These laws are part of Australia’s efforts to regulate social media and protect its citizens, particularly children.

While there’s no direct statement from Facebook regarding these laws, it’s likely that the platform, like other social media companies, will need to adapt its policies and technologies to comply with the new regulations. The Australian government has been working with industry stakeholders, including social media platforms, to ensure a smooth implementation of the laws. Facebook, along with other platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter), will likely be subject to these age restrictions ² ¹ ³.