Adults required to prove age to watch porn, video games in major crackdown
Australians will be unable to access porn, R-rated video games and explicit AI chatbots unless they prove their age, under a landmark online safety crackdown.
From Monday, search engines, social media platforms, pornography websites, app stores, gaming providers, and generative AI systems – including companion chatbots – must take meaningful steps to prevent children from being exposed to inappropriate content or face a $49.5 million fine per breach.
One in three Australian children aged 10 to 17 has seen sexual images or videos online, while more than 70 per cent of children have seen or heard online content associated with harm, including high-impact violence, pornography, self-harm material and content portraying suicide and disordered eating, according to eSafety research.
Under the codes, created by the industry under the direction of the eSafety Commissioner, adults will continue to have full access to legal adult content but some services, including pornography, will now require proof of age.
According to eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, services must have “accurate, robust, fair and reliable” age assurance methods, similar to those used to enforce the under-16 social media ban.
Grant said simply clicking a button that says, “I am 18 years or older” is “no longer sufficient”.
“We don’t allow children to walk into bars or bottle shops, adult stores or casinos, but when it comes to online spaces where they are spending a lot of their time, there are no such safeguards,” Inman Grant said.
“That changes for Australian kids with these codes which simply bring those same, commonsense protections we all grew up with to the online world of today.”
As with the social media ban rules, verification methods could include photo identification, facial age estimation, credit card checks, digital identity wallets or using artificial intelligence to estimate age based on the user’s data. Any measures used must comply with Australian privacy law.
“Any platform that carries 18-plus content or adult content is required to use age assurance, and we leave that up to the business themselves that gives higher level assurance of just self-declaration,” Inman Grant said.
The codes force AI companion chatbots capable of generating sexually explicit, high-impact violence or self-harm material to confirm users’ ages before allowing them to access material.
How the rules are changing
AI companion chatbots – AI companion chatbots capable of generating sexually explicit, high-impact violence or self-harm material need to confirm someone is 18 or older before allowing them access to that material.
App stores – App stores must take appropriate steps to prevent users who are under 18 from purchasing or downloading apps rated R18+ and ensure apps are appropriately rated. If the app store does not already know someone’s age, they may be asked to confirm it through age assurance.
Messaging – There are no age checks required for widely used general messaging services or those attached to social media platforms, such as Facebook Messenger. Users may be asked to verify their age on adult messaging services that specialise in distributing sexually explicit content, pornography or self-harm material.
Online gaming – Users will have to complete some form of age assurance to access online games classified R18+ by the Australian Classification Board. For all other games, no age checks are required.
Pornography sites – Users will be asked to confirm their age when accessing age-restricted material on pornography websites and services. Clicking a button that says “I am 18 years or older” is no longer sufficient.
Search engines – For users who are not logged into an account, for example a Google account, search results containing pornography and high-impact violence will be blurred by default.
Social media – Social media services that allow pornography or self-harm material must ensure users are 18+ before giving them access to that material. This may involve age assurance when someone logs in, or at the point of access to that material. If they are using a service that does not allow porn according to its own Terms of Service, like Facebook for example, there will be no change.
Across Australia, children and young adults are forming relationships with artificial intelligence companion bots, which can quickly turn explicit and have at times encouraged self-harm and suicide.
It comes after a parliamentary inquiry into the impacts of porn on mental, emotional and physical health heard the average age of first exposure to pornography is 13 years old, and children as young as six were showing signs of porn exposure.
Inman Grant said that for decades society had agreed that there are certain things children were not physically, developmentally or emotionally equipped to deal with.
She said the code eased the burden on parents, carers and schools.
“Make no mistake, where we see failures or foot-dragging, we will hold companies to account.”
Anyone needing support can contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028, Lifeline 13 11 14, and Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800. Support is available from the Butterfly National Helpline on 1800 33 4673.
Emily Kowal is an education reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.