As Australia’s social media ban for teens under the age of sixteen approaches, Meta has started notifying teenage Facebook and Instagram users about the status of their accounts. When the ban takes effect on December tenth, Meta will revoke access to existing accounts for users under sixteen. As of December fourth, the company will also prevent new account creation for that age group. Once a user turns sixteen, they will be able to regain access to their old account exactly as they left it.
A significant challenge for Meta will be accurately determining which users are under the age of sixteen, as people are not always truthful about their age when signing up for social media services. Executing digital age checks in a safe and effective manner is notoriously difficult. Identity verification services are high-profile targets for hackers, and the implications of even a minor security vulnerability are severe. Personal information and government documents can be exposed during such breaches.
Identity verification platforms have already proven problematic for user security. Last year, an investigation found that a company which verifies the identity of users for several major tech platforms had left administrative credentials exposed online for more than a year. This security lapse allowed the sensitive information of users to be exposed.