Google warns Australia’s social media ban for under-16s will be ‘extremely difficult’ to enforce
Google has questioned the effectiveness of the Australia’s landmark social media ban for under 16.
According to Reuters, the tech giant on Monday, October 13, said it would be “extremely difficult” for Australia to enforce a law prohibiting people younger than 16 from using social media, warning that the government’s initiative would not make children safer online.
Governments and tech firms around the world are closely watching Australia, which in December will become the first country to block the use of social media by people younger than 16.
Social media platforms will not be required to conduct age verification procedures; instead, they will be asked to use artificial intelligence and behavioural data to reliably infer age.
In a parliamentary hearing on online safety rules on Monday, YouTube’s senior manager of government affairs in Australia, Rachel Lord, said the government’s programme was well-intentioned, but it could have “unintended consequences.”
“The legislation will not only be extremely difficult to enforce, it also does not fulfil its promise of making kids safer online,” Lord said.
When asked if Google was lobbying officials in Washington to raise the issue when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington next week, Google Australia’s government affairs director Stef Lovett said her US colleagues were aware of the issues that the company faces in Australia.
