Social media age ban should not be enforced through passports, government ID, inquiry finds

Social media platforms tasked with enforcing the government’s bid to ban social media for children under 16 years of age should be barred from forcing users to supply government ID like passports and birth certificates, an inquiry into the proposed laws has recommended.

As it stands the divisive Bill, which is expected to be passed later this week, will prohibit companies from using data collected for age verifications purposes for other means, and states the information must be destroyed once it is used.

Companies could also be subjected to maximum $50m fines for serious and repeated breaches of the provisions under the privacy act.

However the additional recommendation will call for a specific provision to prohibit companies from “compelling a person to use an accredited service … or other government ID such as passports,” and said platforms must allow alternative methods to assess a user’s age.

Although the report calls on the legislation to explicitly rule out the measure, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland told Labor MPs on Tuesday users would not have to hand over the sensitive information to tech giants.

The specific implementation of the ban will also be informed by the government’s age assurance trial which will determine the effectiveness of current technologies and is slated to end in mid-2025.

The report also noted that platforms like Instagram, owned by Meta, were building technology to proactively identify accounts which belonged to underages teens.

The committee quoted statistics from TikTok Australia, which said it had removed more than 20 million suspected underage accounts globally between April and June 2024 through tech-based tactics and human moderation.

The report’s nine recommendations also said young people must be “meaningfully” engaged during the implementation of the ban, and called on Ms Rowland, or the current minister, to commit to a strict implementation date within 12 months from when the Bill is passed.

The single-hearing inquiry into the social media ban ultimately called for the legislation to be passed, despite dissent from Nationals senator Matt Canavan and the Greens.

Senator Canavan, who is among at least three Coalition MPs who have indicated they might cross the floor in opposition to the Bill, said the parliament needed more time for public scrutiny, given that it deals with the “complex regulation of modern and evolving technologies”.

“Australians have lost trust in the political process at an unprecedented rate in recent years,” he said.

“Trust will not be restored by the Senate ignoring good process and effectively blocking the Australian people from having their say on significant laws before their parliament.”

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused both Labor and the Coalition of attempting to “ram through this so-called ‘world-leading’ legislation without any scrutiny,” and said it could lead to “far-reaching consequences”

“Given this legislation would be a world first — with no country successfully implementing an age ban — it is more important than ever that the detail is thought out properly,” she wrote.

“Parents are rightfully worried about the safety of their kids online, but they also know unless platforms are forced to clean up their act, their child won’t be safe online when they turn 16 either.”