The “reasonable steps” social media companies must take to keep children off their platforms do not include verifying the age of each user or minimum levels of accuracy, regulatory guidelines released three months out from the ban show.
The guidelines published by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner on Tuesday confirm that companies like YouTube, Meta and TikTok will be allowed to implement the ban for under 16s using a principles-based approach, rather than prescriptive requirements for which technologies or methods must be used to verify, estimate or infer a person’s age.
The guidance also shows the regulator expects social media companies’ early focus to be on removing or de-activating existing underage users, and preventing new underage accounts when the ban comes into force on December 10.
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