But can you really outlaw part of the World Wide Web for a generation that has grown up online?
And, more importantly, should we?
University of Canterbury senior law professor, Dr Cassandra Mudgway, told The Front Page that Australian law will require social media platforms to take “reasonable steps” to ensure their users are over 16.
“The law does not apply, at least not for the moment, to messaging services. So Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, or some gaming services with those communication capabilities, like Roblox [are exempt],” Mudgway said.
“Platforms are required to have at least one or more way to check their users’ age. The most obvious and accurate way of doing that is age verification, which is uploading government IDs. But the law in Australia requires services to have at least one other way,” she said.
“The one that’s most talked about, and the one that you’re gonna hear a lot about, is the facial age estimation tool. That’s when they take a photo of your face, and an AI [artificial intelligence] tool guesses how old you are.
“The accuracy of these tools is questioned and critiqued. The most common measure for existing users will likely be passive. So, platforms will just guess your age based on how long you’ve been on the app and what content you engage with.”
One major difference is Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, who will be in charge of compliance and have the ability to fine platforms millions of dollars.
“If you have a deepfake that happens online, you want it removed; their eSafety Commissioner can require those companies to remove it. If we compare that to New Zealand, we don’t have these structures in place,” Mudgway said.
“We, by the looks of things, might be heading towards adopting a ban without having adopted all of those other measures.
“It’s very clear that we should be building safer digital environments and thinking about what that would look like in our context and how we might use law and regulation to make that a reality.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Australia’s new law
- Age verification methods
- The rise of fringe platforms
- How to raise digital natives
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
