In a move that’s sparking serious privacy concerns, Australians of all ages may soon be required to verify their age before accessing their social media accounts.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge echoed the concerns that Caldron Pool has been warning about, raising questions about the policy’s implications.
He asked, “If you’re testing to see if someone’s 13, or 14, or 15, or 16, you’re also testing to see, by definition, if they’re 16-plus. So, if there’s going to be age verification, everybody is going to have to go through an age verification process, won’t they?”
Labor Senator Jenny McAllister confirmed, replying, “Yes.”
Shoebridge then added, “So, this isn’t just about privacy or collecting data about kids, this is literally everybody accessing social media. That’s how it has to work, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Of course, this move suggests that Labor is willing to enforce age verification requirements on every social media user, not just minors. Naturally, concerned Australians have argued that this could pave the way for unprecedented privacy intrusions for anyone trying to access their online accounts.
For the sake of clarity, we’ll reiterate the position we’ve been voicing in response to this proposed legislation:
First of all, no—children should not be on social media. But policing this sort of thing is the responsibility of parents, not our politicians.
But to be honest, we shouldn’t be under any delusion that this legislation has anything to do with “protecting kids,” especially considering everything our youngsters copped from our politicians over the past few years. For months on end, they were isolated, banned from school, prevented from playing sports, and not allowed to socialise with their friends. Of course, this had a serious impact on their mental health, development, and well-being.
What’s more likely is that the well-being of our kids is being used as a pretext so that all opposition can be dismissed as irrational, heartless, and uncaring. As we’ve previously noted, in 2022, the government and the media floated the idea of requiring all social media accounts to be linked to personal identification in an effort to end online anonymity. The suggestion was widely criticized for obvious privacy concerns. This new legislation could effectively be used to achieve that very same end.
What’s more, as with all legislation, precedent must be seriously considered. If we allow the government to intrude into the home life under the guise of protecting the health and safety of our kids, then why should it stop with social media access? What about access to other “harmful” things?
How long will it be until they dictate what foods our kids can consume, how much exercise they’re required to do daily, and what programs they must and must not watch on television?
Now, someone might say, “But some parents are bad parents!” This is true. Some parents don’t regulate their children’s online activities. Some parents feed their children more junk food than others. Some parents allow their children to spend too much time on the screens. Some parents don’t enrol their children in any sports or encourage any form of physical activity.
But that is no reason to imagine the only possible solution is that the government dictates the diets of all children, or that our politicians come up with legislation banning all kids from screens, or that they introduce state-mandated sporting programs for our kids.
The Australian government is evidently struggling to handle its own responsibilities, like tackling the cost of living, immigration, or the housing crisis. So instead, they run a joint campaign implying that parents are failing at their parental responsibilities and that the government must intervene to remedy our incompetence with yet more laws.
But it really is possible to exist without the government’s continual oversight and intervention. Unfortunately, far too many Australians suffer a “convict mindset.” They wear invisible chains. They simply cannot conceive of solutions to our family or social challenges that don’t involve abdicating personal responsibility to a government eager to seize more control over our lives.
