Aussies will soon need to verify their age before accessing adult content online with new changes to be rolled out within days.
New standards in the Online Safety Act come into effect across Australia on Monday, meaning digital platforms must verify the age of their users.
Verification will be required to access harmful or age-inappropriate content, such as porn, self-harm material and very violent content.
This applies to social media including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, app stores, websites, generative AI platforms, and search engines such as Google or Bing.
It will also affect infrastructure that makes websites accessible and service providers, including phone and home broadband.
Andy Lulham, chief operating officer at UK-based age verification firm VerifyMy, said Australia was following Britain’s lead on online safety.
‘At a time when nearly a third of 13-year-olds have viewed porn online, this is safeguarding built on sound logic,’ he said.
‘Robust age assurance will close the door on kids accessing porn and prevent young people stumbling across legal but age-inappropriate content.’
Aussies will soon have to verify their age before accessing adult content online (stock image)
The majority of young people – 71 per cent – who unintentionally come across porn ignore it, though some described these encounters as frequent, unavoidable and unwelcome.
Dr Vanessa Teague, a cryptographer focused on privacy and security, said the measures aren’t unreasonable.
‘For example, it seems to be saying age verification is only required if (search engines) are going to serve up age restricted material,’ she told Daily Mail.
‘This doesn’t seem unreasonable.
‘On the other hand, it is obviously easily circumvented. All you have to do is install a VPN from a country that doesn’t have these restrictions.’
She described how, when similar digital restrictions were introduced in the UK, ‘there was a massive uptick in VPN usage around the time’.
‘I think it’s very likely that we’ll see something very similar here,’ she said.
New standards in the Online Safety Act will come into effect across Australia on Monday
‘Then what happens is that the porn sites and gambling sites record a massive drop in visits from Australia.
‘But that’s not actually because Australians are visiting those sites any less. It’s just because Australians are visiting those sites from a virtual private network that makes it look as if they’re visiting them from somewhere else.’
Dundas Lawyers director Malcolm Burrows said digital services can use any method for age verification, as long as it meets their obligation to check users.
‘For services or providers required to carry out age checks under the new codes, the method used is optional, so long as it meets the definition of ‘appropriate age assurance’,’ he wrote on the company website last year.
He said the eSafety Commissioner suggests a range of acceptable options, including confirmation by a parent, photo identification or facial age estimation.
Digital sites can also use credit card checks, digital identity wallets, a third-party age-assurance vendor or AI technology that estimates age via data inputs.
‘Under section 143 of the Online Safety Act, companies that fail to comply with these new codes may face fines up to $49.5 million,’ Mr Burrows said.
‘The Commissioner may also apply to the Federal Court to order that the provider of or particular social media platforms, electronic or designated internet service stop providing that service in Australia.’
