How age verification rules for porn and social media could impact millions of Australian adults

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Millions of Australian adults may soon be required to submit their personal data to legally access adult content and potentially social media sites, as part of the government's new initiative to protect children online. The government is investing $6.5 million to test age verification technology aimed at restricting minors' access to inappropriate content. However, if the trial proceeds as planned, it will impact not only children but also adults. National Technology Reporter Ange Lavoipierre will delve into this in her special report.

Transcript

00:00 (DRAMATIC MUSIC)

00:04 Not everyone admits it, but plenty of Australians are doing it.

00:08 And for those who do use online porn,

00:11 this is how it might look if age verification becomes a reality.

00:15 And they're done.

00:16 IDverse is an identity company.

00:18 We can verify your identity remotely and fully automatically.

00:21 And it's more possible now than ever.

00:23 There are hundreds of companies like ours

00:25 providing services to thousands of businesses.

00:27 The catch is a scheme covers everyone.

00:30 So whether you're 14 or 64, you'll need to prove it.

00:34 Well, certainly EFA has tagged it as a porn passport.

00:39 It would mean that every adult who wishes to lawfully consume adult content

00:43 would need to either identify themselves or prove their age.

00:47 It's a big ask, designed to solve a big problem.

00:51 I would have been 12 or 13 when I first saw porn.

00:55 I do remember specifically thinking, "Oh, that's like...

00:58 "I can just find that now. That was easy."

01:01 Adam, who's using a pseudonym, is now in his mid-30s.

01:05 Adam still receives treatment for a porn addiction

01:08 which began before his first kiss.

01:11 Being introduced to it before I had any knowledge

01:15 about all aspects of sex, not just the physical ones,

01:18 definitely led me to keep going back to it

01:21 because that was my baseline now.

01:25 So how could age verification work?

01:28 There's age-gating.

01:30 It's a landing page that asks you if you're old enough,

01:33 but you're welcome to lie.

01:35 Then you've got account-based checks,

01:37 where another platform like Google or Facebook vouchers for you.

01:40 That means sharing extra data, and it's not always accurate.

01:44 Biometrics can estimate your age based on your face and voice,

01:48 but it's considered risky because that data is so uniquely yours.

01:52 That leaves hard identifiers -

01:54 government-issued ID like your actual passport

01:57 or your driver's licence.

01:59 Accurate? Absolutely. But it's risky too.

02:02 Then there's the question of how that data is packaged and sent.

02:06 It can be stored on your device in a digital ID

02:09 or using an anonymised age token.

02:12 A secure system then transfers the token to the other side.

02:20 Last year, the government said the tech wasn't quite there,

02:24 but by February, the advice was clear.

02:27 The age assurance industry is maturing,

02:30 so I think the time is right now that we all move forward.

02:34 There are now age verification laws in Germany, France, Canada,

02:39 the UK and 11 US states.

02:42 But only a handful of those schemes have managed to leave the runway,

02:45 and it's been anything but a smooth ride.

02:48 Texans are now blocked from the adult website...

02:51 In Texas, age verification laws coincided

02:54 with an apparent 80% drop in porn use.

02:57 In reality, Texans were dodging the scheme

03:00 using virtual private networks, or VPNs.

03:04 So, Texans, you know why we are having this talk.

03:07 Get ready to meet the three best VPN in Texas options

03:10 that will solve your issues.

03:12 And there are other gaps in the fence.

03:14 Roughly a third of Australian children exposed to porn

03:17 are seeing it on social media.

03:19 It's inspired South Australia to investigate

03:22 banning certain platforms for anyone under 14.

03:26 And now the federal government has confirmed

03:29 it's not just porn that's in its sights.

03:32 Social media is going to be one of the use case scenarios

03:35 that will be examined.

03:37 By testing these particular settings,

03:39 we will have a much better understanding

03:42 of what they are able to do to build this into their systems.

03:46 And we are seeing millions more Australians into the frame

03:49 on any future scheme.

03:51 [ Silence ]

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