"Insufficient Platform Enforcement Leaves Loopholes"... Australia to Strengthen SNS Ban for Minors Under 16

Six Months After Block, Teens Still Accessing Platforms
Bill Would Hold Platforms Accountable for Harm

At the end of last year, the Australian government became the first in the world to implement a policy blocking social network service (SNS) accounts for minors. Now, it is pushing to expand these blocking measures, including legal actions against relevant companies and additional legislation. The government believes that there are still loopholes due to insufficient enforcement by the platforms.

According to Yonhap News and the Associated Press on June 27, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated in Parliament on June 25 (local time) that the government is reviewing ways to strengthen SNS blocking measures.

Prime Minister Albanese also said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) the previous day that the focus would be on empowering the eSafety Commissioner, the online safety regulatory body responsible for SNS blocking measures, to fully carry out its duties. He explained, "What we are trying to do is make the law as robust as possible and withstand any legal challenges that may arise," adding that they are reviewing whether Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has all the necessary authority. To this end, he announced plans to promote the "digital duty of care" bill, which would hold platforms accountable for foreseeable harm caused by their content and algorithms.

The reason for these moves by the Australian government is that, even though it has been half a year since the policy blocking SNS accounts for minors under 16 was implemented, evidence has emerged that many teenagers are still using these platforms. According to a recent paper published in the renowned medical journal, the British Medical Journal (BMJ), a study of 408 Australian adolescents aged 12 to 15 found that 85% of them continued to use SNS three months after the blocking measures were introduced.

According to the paper, about two-thirds of the study participants provided false information during the platforms' age verification processes, or used selfies taken with makeup to appear older and be recognized as over 16 years old. Some SNS platforms have introduced age verification procedures, including facial recognition, but teenagers can easily circumvent these measures, and there are also many young users who have never been asked to verify their age by the platform.

Lisa Given, Professor of Information Science at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), told the AP that eSafety is having difficulty enforcing the law due to resistance from platforms, stating, "Either the eSafety Commissioner needs more authority, or a different approach to law enforcement is required." Authorities are preparing legal action against companies that do not take reasonable measures to prevent users under 16 from holding accounts, based on legal provisions that allow for fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (approximately 52.4 billion won) for such violations.

In March, Commissioner Inman Grant announced that investigations had been launched into Meta's Facebook and Instagram, Google's YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok for allegedly violating the law by failing to take adequate measures to block accounts for minors.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of countries are moving to ban SNS use by minors. On June 18, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the first Arab country to completely prohibit SNS use by children under 15. In addition, countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have also adopted this policy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.