Australia’s social media ban is “problematic,” but platforms will comply anyway

General News
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With the December 10 deadline steadily approaching, most major social media platforms have signaled that they’re giving up any sort of fight against Australia age detection mandates. We have now reached the phase where age verification is becoming normalized despite the technology driving it being imperfect at best and invasive at worst.

Social media platforms have agreed to comply with Australia’s social media ban for users under 16 years old, begrudgingly embracing the world’s most restrictive online child safety law.

On Tuesday, Meta, Snap, and TikTok confirmed to Australia’s parliament that they’ll start removing and deactivating more than a million underage accounts when the law’s enforcement begins on December 10, Reuters reported.

Firms risk fines of up to $32.5 million for failing to block underage users.

Age checks are expected to be spotty, however, and Australia is still “scrambling” to figure out “key issues around enforcement,” including detailing firms’ precise obligations, AFP reported.

An FAQ managed by Australia’s eSafety regulator noted that platforms will be expected to find the accounts of all users under 16.

Those users must be allowed to download their data easily before their account is removed.

Some platforms can otherwise allow users to simply deactivate and retain their data until they reach age 17. Meta and TikTok expect to go that route, but Australia’s regulator warned that “users should not rely on platforms to provide this option.”

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any predictions where this will go in the coming years?

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I’m wondering if someone (@em or @jordan) can do a history of internet age/ID verification as it pertains to privacy.

My main source of privacy-related news is this forum, and I’ve seen a significantly high increase in news about age verification as of late… This is very concerning because from my limited perspective, it seems to be very suddenly getting adopted.

The article or video would ideally contain a timeline of these events (verification laws being introduced, passed, rejected, etc.). Another point of interest, or perhaps the overall theme, would be related to my concern above. If the history does indeed indicate that these social changes are very sudden, what are the ramifications (both the obvious and unobvious)? Where did this sudden urge to verify come from, if it’s so sudden? What is the ideal case scenario if this became the new norm? What is the worst case scenario? All with respect to privacy, but maybe you can get political if you want.

The target audience should be the average Joe and Jane so that we can send the article/video to them and get them informed.

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Its again a good cause used for evil.

Certainly any sane parent and society must want to protect their vulnerables, which includes scope of access to dangerous (if powerful) technologies and interactions with strangers. The massive damage that can occur to child developement, mental and phisiological health problems have been studied to exhaustion and it is no wonder that the children of the very people who invented/stewarded these services, are increasiny growing up with less access to such technologies, especially regarding the access to smartphones andscreen time.

However while likely many in the government are of this opinion, the vast majority has not the slightest clue on any of this, on the contrary their whole effort and thought focus on the question of how to gain power and how to remain in power. And now came the internet and social media. Leaders all over the world realized (not last during the arab spring or 2016 US election or HKG protests) that it became increasingly difficult with their old portfolio of data forgery, carefully crafted TV appearances, general bribes, lies and manipulation.

Because information travels fast now. And they dont control the routes on which it travels (yet).

But how to tame a beast? You are a politican, you learned how to rise into power via the old channels, how to fake a talk show appearance and to misrepresent a study or occurance; maybe you have an adept social media manager. But begrugingly you see how your sheeps float away, how the truth comes through, how others learned the laws of power in relation to the internet faster and better than you. Now the show is on. You enact laws that label this and that as “hate speech” or “discrimminatory”. But not long many realize, that its main purpose is outlawing critic of your person and policies. You don’t care. After all you are a politican, when have politicans ever cared what their subjugates think of them (other than during the polling ritual in “democracies”).

Now you have the law, but how to enforce it? You need to be able to punish people if they misbehave and step out of line. Which requires you to know WHO you are going to punish. A discussion as old as the internet, so far always fruitless.

Enter “siren servers” (Lanier), internet platforms with such a vast influence, that their adoption is quasi ubiquitous. Not having an account on these comes close to not being on the internet at all (to the general population). Is like not owning a bank account (paypal/amazon) or being allowed to the town hall (facebook) or the club (instagram). All you have to do is convince the companies behind it to enforce clear identification. Which is not too hard, after all you are the state and can just send armed thugs to their offices and raid their treasuries, which they know.

Enter “Age verification on social media for the protection of children” or whatever your advisers came up with as a name/justification for that plot.

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I already wrote an article on Age Verification back in May this year, and Jordan adapted the article in an excellent video that we published in August.

That being said, another article with emphasis on the timeline and news about recent implementations of Age Verification policies and laws would be interesting to do in the future I think.

Personally, I think “this sudden urge to verify” likely comes from lobbying from an exponentially growing “age insurance industry” estimated to worth a lot more money in the years to come. I mention this topic briefly with resources in the article in May.

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Personally, I think “this sudden urge to verify” likely comes from lobbying from an exponentially growing “age insurance industry” estimated to worth a lot more money in the years to come. I mention this topic briefly with resources in the article in May.

Well that’s creepy, tell us more about it please!

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Interesting! This reminds me of the question as to whether leaps in the Montanan Industries (coal, iron, steel …) have fueled World War I.

Industrialists where eager to increase demand and get some real world testing for their newest products, certainly.

From reading (ex ante) accounts of these times, one does come to understand however, that it was more than economical needs that lit the fuse and ignited the powder keg. Questions pertaining to continental (european) hegemony where demanding a solution, after the German empire failed its colonial ambitions and the entente was established to (unsuccessfully, if we look at the east) thwart German attempts to instead expand its hemisphere at home.

Did the weapons industries make the war deadlier and more gruesome than anything before? Bloody hell yeah! But where they the driving force for the escalation of violence?

ELI5: THE HEN OR EGG PROBLEM (modified). Do Lawmakers push age verification because industry is developing this capability and need revenue, or is industries developing this capability because lawmakers want to positively surveil everyone?

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Wrong forum I think :wink:

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I dumbed it down for you

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Pretnend your social media is not from Australia and you should be good or just move.

my jArb book and soveriegn indovodual both recommend that just moving is often the better option.

you just need relocation consultancy.

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You could use double hopping with the Australian server as the entry server (for latency/speed) and then another country as the exit server (this is the IP others will see).