‘Messy and chilling': Communications Minister Anika Wells' stunning admission about plan to ban kids from social media

Sky News AU

4 hours ago

Communications Minister Anika Wells has conceded the rollout of her controversial under-16 social media ban will be 'messy', as she pushes for child accounts to be axed on 'day one'.
In an exclusive interview with Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell, Minister Wells said the laws, which come into effect on December 10, would have a 'chilling effect' which will change the 'culture of social media account usage in our kids'.
'Under the law, the onus is on the platforms to make sure that they have identified any social media accounts that are held by under 16s and that on day one those social media accounts are deactivated,' Ms Wells said.
'They've also got to take reasonable steps to make sure that no new accounts are activated, that anyone trying to get around the system, they've taken reasonable steps to try and stop that from happening and to clean up areas as we go.
'Anything that's world leading, anything that we're trying to do, we're trying a big swing. It's going to look a bit messy on the way through.'
When pressed on how tech companies would verify the age of users, Minister Wells did not specify exactly how the government expected the ban to be enforced.
Minister Wells instead said there was a 'very good chance' tech companies knew 'how old you are' given how sophisticated their content algorithms were.
'They can target us with deadly accuracy when it comes to their advertising and when it comes to promoting their advertising for revenue streams,' she said.
'So if they know where you are, what you're doing, whom you do it with, at what time you do, there's a very good chance that they know how old you are.'
An 'Age Assurance' technology trial is underway, but its final recommendations have yet to be handed down.
The preliminary report found there were 'no significant technological barriers' preventing an age check.
But the government has not yet indicated exactly what technology would be used to verify Australians' identities.
Minister Wells said she would publish the final report when it's handed down, and said she would work with the eSafety Commissioner on 'how this rolls out'.
'But whilst we wait for the final recommendation, I'll just say that it looks promising,' she said.
'There will be an onus on social media platforms to take reasonable steps and to work with the Youth Safety Commissioner.'
Last week, the Albanese government confirmed YouTube would be included in the under-16 social media ban after previously promising the platform would be given an exemption.
The opposition accused Labor of misleading Australians before the election.
'The Albanese Labor Government can change a Minister, but they cannot hide the fact they deliberately misled the public at the last election by promising to keep YouTube out of the social media age minimum,' shadow communications minister Melissa McIntosh said last week.
'The Prime Minister and the Labor government reaffirmed YouTube's exemption before the election. They gave YouTube an iron-clad guarantee they would remain exempt. It makes you question what has really changed behind the scenes in the government on this issue, and whether it was an election stunt.'
Social media companies will be given hefty penalties for non-compliance, with fines up to $49.5 million for companies that are found to be systemically breaching the rules.