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The Australian law introduces 'age- restricted social media platforms' defined as those that solely or have significant characteristics of enabling social interactions. This vague classification has been designed to facilitate exemptions for gaming, messaging, health and education apps, among others acknowledging the need to retain teens' access to the internet. However, this approach:
Fails to align with the shape-shifting qualities of digital services and children's ability to adapt. Many 'messaging', 'streaming' and 'gaming' apps increasingly exhibit characteristics affiliated with social media, such as user statuses. Children are likely to find alternatives to banned platforms, but with parents having a false sense of security about safety. A greater risk is that adults will find out much later when lesser-known apps disguised as 'non-social media' will fill this void.
Creates an obligation for age-restricted services to collect information of all users for age assessments, causing an increase in data security and privacy risks. Recognising these concerns, the Australian law does not allow companies to use government ID systems for age verification; instead, it mentions that platforms must take 'reasonable steps' towards compliance. These undefined, 'reasonable steps' taken by each platform will be benchmarked against
