((Automated translation by Reuters using machine learning and generative AI, please refer to the following disclaimer: https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))
* Authorities gather evidence for legal action – minister
*Meta, YouTube and TikTok under investigation, regulator says
* Platforms do not sufficiently use age deduction and age insurance, says regulator
(Recast with quotes from the new communications minister in paragraphs 3-4, 17-18) by Byron Kaye
Australia on Tuesday threatened to sue social media giants for allegedly flouting a ban on under-16s, as the internet regulator revealed it was investigating some of the biggest platforms for alleged non-compliance with the unprecedented measure in the world.
Three months after the ban came into force, the e-security commissioner said he was investigating Meta META.O’s Instagram and Facebook, Google’s YouTube
GOOGL.O, Snapchat SNAP.O and TikTok for possible violations of the law.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said the government was gathering evidence “so the Electronic Safety Commissioner can go to the Federal Court and win his case.”
“We’ve spent the summer building this evidence base from all the stories that I’m sure you’ve all heard… about how kids are getting around this law,” Ms Wells told reporters in Canberra.
Governments around the world are watching Australia’s moves to rein in tech giants, with many considering similar regulations to protect children from social media harms, including harassment and body shaming.
The legal threat represents a striking change in tone from a government that welcomed the cooperation of tech giants when the ban came into force in December.
After claiming that companies had deactivated 4.7 million accounts of suspected minors, the government faced daily headlines about teens skirting restrictions or simply keeping their accounts without being asked their age.
Meta and Snap said they were committed to upholding the ban, and a Meta spokesperson added that the government’s own trials of age assurance technology found “natural margins of error” around the 16 age limit.
TikTok declined to comment, while a Google spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
Under Australian law, platforms must prove they are taking reasonable steps to exclude underage users, or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($34 million) per violation, which eSafety is expected to pursue in civil court.
POSITION D’APPLICATION
The regulator has previously said it will only take enforcement action in cases of systemic non-compliance.
But in its first full compliance report since the ban came into force, eSafety said the steps taken by the platforms were not up to par and that it would make a decision on next steps by mid-year.
“We are now moving to an enforcement position,” Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement.
The regulator has flagged significant compliance gaps, including platforms inviting children who have already declared an age below 16 to re-verify their age, allow repeated attempts at age assurance tests until a child scores above 16 and do not provide users with the means to report underage accounts.
Some platforms did not use age inference, which allows age to be estimated based on a person’s online activity, and others only used age assurance measures, such as photo-based verifications, after a user attempted to change their profile. Age, rather than at the time of registration.
It is therefore “likely that many Australian children aged under 16 were able to create accounts on age-restricted social media platforms by simply declaring that they were 16 or over”, the regulator said.
Nearly a third of parents said their child under 16 had at least one social media account after the ban took effect, and two thirds said the platform did not ask for the child’s age, the organization added.
(1 dollar = 1.4592 Australian dollars)
