MegaThread: Australian Social Media Ban - Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required
Sarah @ SarahFromOz @lemmy.world Posts 3Comments 11Joined 1 wk. ago
Sarah @ SarahFromOz @lemmy.world
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Yep looks like many sites haven't actually implemented the age verification at all.
https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/we-tried-to-break-australia-s-social-media-ban-it-wasn-t-hard-20251210-p5nmcx
Social media platforms are still allowing users who declare themselves to be under 16 to sign up for new accounts, despite Australia’s world-first social media ban coming into effect today.
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testing by The Australian Financial Review found Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram and Threads, as well as Snapchat, TikTok and X were the only platforms to prohibit users signing up if they listed their age as under 16. As of 6am AEDT, the Financial Review created accounts on video streaming platforms Kick and Twitch despite listing the user age as below 16. Several hours after establishing the account, Kick prompted the user to verify their age, but the app remains fully accessible at this stage without verification.
Likewise, online forum Reddit – which said it would comply with law but is preparing a potential legal challenge to the new regulations – did not require users to input their age at all while setting up an account, with adult “18+ content” on the platform filtered using a toggle in the app’s settings without any age verification. On YouTube, owned by Google parent Alphabet, users can set up an account while listing their age as under 16 and comment and watch videos. Viewers can watch YouTube and TikTok without logging on, but even the under-16 account created by the Financial Review was able to easily access explicit content. While Facebook, Instagram and Threads, Snapchat, TikTok and X prevented people under 16 from signing up, all 10 social platforms let the Financial Review create accounts that listed an age of 18 without any further age verification.