A new report has found that Australia’s plan to implement a social media for under-16s has plenty of risks and shortcomings.
Australia’s plan to ban social media for under-16s is laced with risk.
The government is set to implement the world-first ban from December, which is designed to limit the harmful impacts of social media for teens.
Under the new legislation, platforms need to take “reasonable steps” to prevent Australian youngsters from creating accounts and deactivate existing ones on the site.
The forthcoming ban has been received well by parents but experts have expressed concern about data privacy and how accurate age verification is.
The federal government commissioned the UK-based Age Check Certification Scheme to analyse the ways that the ban could be enforced in Australia, with the final report published on Sunday (31.08.25).
It studied a range of methods – including formal verification through the use of government documents, parental approval and technologies to determine age based on facial structure, gesture or behaviours – and found that all were possible but with shortcomings.
The report states: “We did not find a single ubiquitous solution that would suit all use cases, nor did we find solutions that were guaranteed to be effective in all deployments.”
Verification with identity documents was highlighted as the most accurate method but concerns were raised that platforms could hold onto data longer than required and anticipated sharing it with regulators – putting the privacy of users at risk.
Meanwhile, facial assessment technology is 92 per cent accurate for individuals aged 18 or over, but there is a “buffer zone” – about two to three years either side of 16 – in which it is less precise.
This report stressed that this could lead to false positives by clearing children to create accounts and false negatives that prevent adults from accessing the platforms unnecessarily.
Australia’s Communication Minister Anika Wells believes there is “no one-size-fits-all solution” but feels that the report showed that age checks have the potential to be “private, efficient and effective”.
She said: “These are some of the world’s richest companies. They are at the forefront of AI. They use the data that we give them for a bevy of commercial purposes. I think it is reasonable to ask them to use that same data and tech to keep kids safe online.
“There is no excuse for social media platforms not to have a combination of age assurance methods in their platforms ready for 10 December.”
Australia’s social media ban for teenagers is filled with risk
