Australia’s Youth Social Media Ban Properties. Can Canada pull off something similar?
For young Australians, the social media landscape is becoming a rocky road, as the companies behind platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat and YouTube begin to follow the country’s brand and new social rules for children and young people.
Those under the age of 16 – or suspected to be in this Cohort – may have started to see pop-up notifications about their accounts being inactive or held until they were of age.
It’s a bold effort to protect young people from online harm that has been widely watched around the world.
But some critics have raised questions about the methods and technologies being used, and whether this will truly make digital spaces safer.
Here’s a quick look at how it’s releasing and powering the ripple effects in Canada.
The basics
Since December 10, the platforms included in the ban must operate the accounts of users under the age of 16 and protect new users in this age group. The social media platforms listed by the first Government are:
- Threads
- YouTube
- Tiktok
- He has a short temper
- Refresh
- X (formerly twitter)
- – Red
- Kick it
Beat the AI to confirm
Each company decides which process to use, but basically for years it is guaranteed that it pays attention to the information provided in the registration, combined with artificial intelligence to analyze the accounts, says Cech Analyst Carmi Levy.
For example, Meta — which owns several social media platforms, including Instagram and Facebook — says it will use AI, Levy noted.
“If [an account is] Following many children, if they are involved in ways that suggest they are under 16, then they will be marked as a low account and will be removed from the platform,” said London.
Meta users can apply for a refund by submitting a government-issued ID or recording a “Video Selfie” for analysis, Levy said.
At that time, Snapchat will also verify age with a government-issued ID, third-party software that analyzes uploaded selfies or other software that links users’ bank information.
Not every weight company has specifications, Levy said, “But we can expect the same thing: they use AI behind the scenes to take you out of the Internet and guess how old you are.”
Technology to ensure ‘Crisis Uncaught’
Australia’s ban is a national experiment with verification technology, which has been largely unsuccessful, Levy said.
“Account authentication and age verification have been used by other platforms, in other parts of the world, and it’s safe to say it’s been an unmitigated disaster,” he said.
Levy pointed to countless users who have been wrongly flagged or removed from platforms, due to age-related reasons, and difficulty proving authenticity.
“Most of these processes are mainly based on automated technology: It’s not the people sitting in the background with meta or Google or X that are ready to handle these types of complaints and this type of behavior over time,” he said.
Levy also said the privacy and data integrity implications of sending sensitive and important personal information, whether it’s an ID like a driver’s license or a candid shot of someone’s face.
“We’re going to have to trust that as they collect these huge amounts of personal information from their users, they’re going to keep it safe,” he said. “And we’ve seen time and time again that doesn’t always happen.”
Failed Challenge banned in Australia
Commenting that Australia has suggested that other places where you are young where you are young and I communicate – from gaming platforms such as roblox and fordnite to spaces such as spaces that work to deal with the dangers of cyberbullying.
“I’m really worried that Australia is going to unleash the kind of rush of young people around the Internet from space and places of disenfranchisement like the Gulf Islands in British Columbia.
“We have to be realistic about what this type of law can or can’t remember and remember that dealing with abuse – to discourage the consequences when it happens – is a more effective way.”
That’s understood by Noah Jones, a 15-year-old student in Sydney, Australia, who is currently the protagonist of a lawsuit seeking to end the ban. He said it was infringing on the constitutional rights of young Australians and cutting off an important channel of communication.
“It just doesn’t make sense why we’re cutting it off in the world, and people who hurt people and content that is clearly dangerous is not one of the victims of this ban,” he told Reuters on Monday.
Peers who have experienced restraint will be less likely to engage in harm’s way, Jones said. “How are they going to report that to the police or parents? Because they shouldn’t be on social media platforms in the first place.”
A potential ripple effect
With many countries and the European Union itself introducing new legislation on the use of social media by teenagers, Levy said he thought the platforms he killed now in Australia “will be used more in Australia”.
Hatfield advises Canada to monitor the situation before moving forward. Legislation to improve Internet security for Canadians was introduced in 2021 and has been amended over the years following stakeholder consultation, she said. But the newly proposed Internet law did not pass because of the Federal election held in April.
However, he thinks the revised fee could easily be renewed in Canada – albeit with a focus on social media companies concerned with the effects on young users and not directly following Australia.
“It would be a very bad thing if this government suddenly forgot all the lessons it learned [consultation] The process also presents something that doesn’t include all that shows – something maybe like Australia: very bold, but not thinking too much about the balance of rights and protection, “said Hatfield.
Levy said it marks the perfect time for Canadian parents to introduce or re-introduce their children to best practices and behaviors in online spaces.
“The government is not going to save your child digitally,” she said. “These are in the discussion that parents need to have with their children.”
