The ban on social media for Australia adolescents can be “effective”, says the report

Australia could use a range of technologies to implement its ban on social media for those under 16, but all present risks or gaps, according to a report.

The government affirms that its ban, which comes into force in December, is designed to limit the harmful impacts of social media. Politics has been presented as a world premiere and is closely monitored by leaders around the world.

Under new laws, platforms must take “reasonable measures” to prevent Australian children from creating accounts on their sites and deactivate those existing.

Although this decision is popular with many parents, experts have raised concerns about data confidentiality and the accuracy of age verification technology.

The federal government has ordered the UK-based age check certification program to test how Australia could apply the ban, and its final report was published on Sunday.

He examined a variety of methods – including formal verification using government documents, parents’ approval or technologies to determine age according to facial structure, gestures or behaviors – and everything was technically possible.

“But we have not found a single omnipresent solution that would suit all use cases, and we have not found any solutions guaranteed to be effective in all deployments,” he said.

The verification using identity documents was cited as the most precise method, but the report has identified the concerns that platforms can keep these data longer than necessary and planned to share it with regulators, who would leave the confidentiality of user in danger.

Australia – like a large part of the world – has experienced a series of high -level data violations in recent years, several of which are stolen and published personal information.

Facial evaluation technology was 92% precise for people aged 18 or over, but there is a “buffer zone” – about two to three years on each side of 16 – in which is less precise. The report indicates that this would lead to false positives, to cleanse children for accounts and false negatives, with the exception of users who should be authorized.

There are also confidentiality and precision problems with parents’ approval methods, he said.

He recommended that the methods be “superimposed” to create the most robust system and stressed that many technologies suppliers were looking for ways to fight by bypass, through things like documents of documents and VPNs (virtual private networks) which obscure the country of the user.

The Minister of Communications, Anika Wells, said that there was “no unique solution”, that the report showed that age checks could be “private, effective and effective”.

“These are some of the richest companies in the world. They are at the forefront of AI. They use the data we give them for commercial purposes.

“There is no excuse for social media platforms to be a combination of age insurance methods in their platforms ready for December 10.”

Under the ban, technological companies may contain a fine of up to $ 50 million ($ 32.5 million; 25.7 million pounds sterling) if they do not take “reasonable measures” to ban people under the age of 16. These steps are still to be defined.

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube are among the affected platforms.

The survey indicates that most Australian adults support the ban on social media for children under the age of 16.

However, some mental health defenders say that the policy has the potential to cut children from the connection, and others say that it could push children under the age of 16 in regulated corners still without regulation.

They suggest that the government should rather focus on better font of harmful content on social media platforms and the preparation of children for the reality of life on the web.