Even more online services could be added to the federal government’s social media ban for under 16s, including gaming platform Roblox and OpenAI’s Sora, as the eSafety commissioner defends making late updates to the “dynamic list” just a month before it comes into effect.
Communications minister Anika Wells announced on Wednesday that message board Reddit and video streaming platform Kick will join the likes of Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok in being required by the Australian government to ban users under the age of 16 from 10 December.
The minister downplayed the issue of children openly scheming on social media about how to skirt the ban, saying “kids will be kids”, but hinted that many such efforts would likely be blocked by the technology changes required under the legislation.
The shadow communications minister Melissa McIntosh has however raised concerns about “policy on the run” and the risk of late additions to the legislation confusing parents and kids.
At a press conference announcing the changes on Wednesday, Wells and eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said companies had been given ample notice that they would be included in the ban – taking effect in 35 days time – and were required to make efforts to ban under 16s, or face up to $49.5 million fines.
Inman Grant said “the burden goes back onto the platforms themselves” to self-assess if they might be subject to the ban, based on an assessment tool developed by the government, and flagged more platforms could be added.
The government has not included Roblox in the ban, a gaming platform with chat functionalities that the Australian Federal Police commissioner last week warned was among services being used by criminals to groom and abuse women. Inman Grant said Roblox was “on the line” of being added to the under 16s ban, but said it was left out because its “significant purpose” was gaming, not chat or social media.
“This is a dynamic list, and it will always change,” she said.
“The burden is on [the platforms], but we will be watching as well. And if they start rolling out features that look more like they’re becoming a social media company than an online gaming company, then we will seek to capture them.”
Kick, a video platform often used to live-stream people playing games, has been added but similar platforms like Twitch have not. Inman Grant said the government would be monitoring other platforms like Discord, Steam, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence-generated video platform Sora, and Twitter-like app Bluesky to see if they should be included in future. But she and minister Wells did not say how much notice would be given to platforms added to the list in future.
“These platforms, it is their duty every single day to consider whether they are going to be caught up in the law and whether they themselves, as a social media platform, will be required,” Wells said.
“If they have not given thought to this up until today, that is nobody’s business but theirs. They’ve had twelve months’ notice.”
Inman Grant also said they’d monitor “migratory patterns” of users flocking to certain platforms not included in the ban, in assessing new additions to the ban list, and expected platforms to report to the government any major influx of users.
McIntosh said the Coalition backed the intent of the legislation, but had concerns.
“We’re at crunch time for December 10 … we don’t know if they’re all in or out now, we don’t know which age verification technology is going to be used, and so many Australians contact me, concerned about the potential use of digital identification,” she said.
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Inman Grant had written to 16 different companies asking for them to assess whether they would be required to ban under-16s. Among those contacted – but not named in the list – were Discord, GitHub, Roblox and Twitch.
Reddit is the sole forum discussion-type site to be included in the ban.
Kick was added to the list months after the high-profile death of a French user who was streaming on the platform in August. Kick said it would cooperate with authorities and was reviewing its French content.
“Our priority is to protect creators and ensure a safer environment on Kick,” it wrote on X. “All co-streamers who participated in this live broadcast have been banned pending the ongoing investigation.”
Platforms prepare for ban to begin
TikTok, Snapchat and Meta told federal parliament last week that while they disagree with the policy, they will comply with the ban when it goes into effect next month.
YouTube has maintained its disagreement with its inclusion in the ban, but has yet to state whether it will comply. The company previously indicated it may launch legal action, but has yet to embark on that course of action.
Elon Musk’s X platform has also expressed its opposition to the ban, and has not yet said whether it will comply with the law, amid several ongoing legal disputes with the eSafety commissioner in recent years.
Discord was absent from the initial list, despite the gaming chat platform recently implementing age assurance for Australian users. It last month said the personal information of about 70,000 users – including some who had been required to provide evidence to prove their age – had been stolen in a data breach of a third party.
The Office of the Australian information commissioner this week revealed more than 68,000 of these 70,000 users were located in Australia.
Inman Grant has previously stated she did not think the notorious site 4chan – which allows users to post without holding accounts – would be included in the ban.
“No, it’s really an image board,” she said last month. The commissioner has instead focused on platforms with a “significant presence” in Australia with a significant number of young users.
Inman Grant indicated 4chan would be required to comply with other codes due to come into effect at the end of this year and early next year, which will also include age assurance for sites hosting violent and adult content.
Twitch is still being assessed by eSafety as to whether it would be required to comply with the ban. Roblox, although not included, has committed to implementing new age-assurance features in Australia by the end of the year. This would include children under 16 being unable to chat with adults on the platform.
