Will a doubling of sanctions make the law effective? Six months after the adoption of a law as historic as it was pioneering banning minors’ access to social networks, Australia is facing the limits of its own legislation: the text of the law has had little impact on the browsing habits of adolescents, a team of researchers based in Australia found on Thursday, June 25, in a peer-reviewed study published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
As a result, new legislation will increase the fine incurred by platforms to a maximum amount of 99 million Australian dollars, or 60 million euros, in the event of repeated breaches of the regulations, and will give the digital policeman increased powers to restrict platforms, the Australian government announced on Saturday.
“Tech giants are not doing enough”
The Australian regulator is currently investigating potential breaches on the part of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, the government said in a press release. “It is clear that tech giants are not doing enough to comply with the law; there are still too many children on social media,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“These changes reflect the seriousness with which we take any failure by social media companies to meet their obligations,” he added. There is growing global interest in whether Australian legislation could serve as a model for reining in tech giants’ growing power. Many countries are considering or have already adopted similar bans, including the United Kingdom, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand.
Tricks and evasions
But Australian researchers who looked at the real effects of this legislation observed little change among users aged 12 to 13. They surveyed more than 400 young social media users just before the restrictions came into force, and again three months later, and found only a slight decline among 14-15 year olds, while an increase in usage was noted among those aged 16 and over.
Underage users circumvented restrictions by using accounts registered to older people, creating fake accounts, or logging in through private browsers. The government says it is clear the regulator needs more powers, although more than five million accounts held by under-16s have been blocked since the ban came into force on December 10.
Provide evidence
Under the new legislation, the Online Safety Commissioner will be able to compel social media companies to provide evidence of what they have done to prevent under-16s from creating an account. It will be empowered to demand information and documents from platforms, but also from third parties such as age verification providers or application stores.
Most of the affected companies have pledged to follow the law, but warned they could push teens to less regulated and more dangerous platforms. They are solely responsible for verifying that users based in Australia are at least 16 years old. Some say they use artificial intelligence (AI) tools that determine age from photos, and some users may choose to upload an ID.
In France, a bill under study
In France, the law banning social networks for under 15s, promised by Emmanuel Macron, could come into force next September. The bill first passed in the National Assembly provided that “access to an online social network service provided by an online platform be prohibited to minors under fifteen years of age”.
But the Senate introduced a distinction between two types of platforms: those which harm the “physical, mental or moral development” of the child, and others. For the former, the ban will be total with age verification. For the latter, the prior agreement of at least one parent will be necessary. In the event of non-compliance, the platforms would be exposed to sanctions which will be applied by the audiovisual policeman, Arcom.
