Teen Social Media Ban cleans the first obstacle to Australia

Some age control applications collect too much data and no product works 100% of the time, but the use of software to enforce a teenage ban on social media can work in Australia, the leader of the biggest trial in the technology world said on Friday.

The view of the age -free assurance technology test of the government of more than 1,000 Australian students and hundreds of adults is a boost in the country’s plan to keep under 16s from social media.

Since December, in a first ban on the world, companies such as Facebook and Instagram Meta owner, Snapchat and Tiktok have to prove that they are taking reasonable measures to prevent young people from their platforms or face a fine of up to $ 49.5 million ($ 32 million).

Since the Australian government announced the legislation last year, supporters of children’s protection, technology groups and children themselves have questioned whether the ban can be imposed due to solutions such as virtual private networks, which hide the user’s user position.

“Ensuring age can be privately, effective and effective in Australia,” said Tony Allen, chief executive of the age certification plan, the United Kingdom -based organization that oversees Australian trial.

The test did not find that “there were no significant technological obstacles” for the circulation of a software -based plan in Australia, although there was no “solution of a size, and no solution that did not work perfectly in all developments,” Allen added in an electronic presentation.

Allen noted that some Age Assurance software companies “do not really know at this stage what data may need to be able to support law enforcement and regulatory authorities in the future.

“There is a risk that they could be inadvertently too much of information that would not be used or needed.”

The organizers of the trial, who ended up earlier this month, did not give data findings and offered only a broad overview that did not call individual products. They will deliver a report to the government next month, which officials said will inform a consultation of the industry before the December deadline.

A spokesman for the ESAFETY Commissioner’s office, who will advise the government on how to implement the ban, said the preliminary findings were a “useful indication of possible results from the trial.

“We are pleased to see the test suggests that age -assurance technologies, when developing in the right way and possibly in combination with other techniques and methods, can be private, powerful and effective,” the spokesman said.

The Australian ban is closely monitored worldwide with several governments exploring ways to limit children’s exposure to social media.