A provider of such a platform must take reasonable steps to prevent children who have not reached a minimum age from having accounts.
I’m sure big tech companies will argue that they are taking “reasonable steps”. If you leave your wording vague then it will be exploited or ignored. This was all incredibly predictable.
The law does go into more detail than that.
This is the exact wording I copy/pasted from the law.
If you want to know the governments expectations in more detail, then you can look at this official document: https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-09/eSafety-SMMA-Regulatory-Guidance.pdf?v=1775028106610
This, from Meta, is what worries me …
“The most effective, privacy‑protective and consistent approach is to require robust age verification and parental approval at the app store and operating system level before a teen can download an app or create an account.”
That’s been the game all along from both sides if you ask me!
It’s already being implemented. iOS has introduced mandatory age verification in the latest beta releases that blocks adult websites and apps etc. unless you upload a credit card or license photo. If you have neither you’re out of luck
Hahahhaha i have a professional account that has only been used to access highly technical shared google sheets for the past five years. Google have flagged it because they “can’t tell my age”
Gotta start clicking ‘like’ on ‘adult’ content I guess. Any 10-15 year old could have been sharing technical spreadsheets, but none would dare look at porn, for example.
start cramming only fans into the middle of the spec sheets. That’ll ensure the readers are paying attention.
I just made throwaways, subscribed to marriage memes and real estate pages. Seemed to have worked.
Kids these days are getting pretty smart!
