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Australia social media ban hits 4.7 million teen accounts in first month (www.reuters.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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SYDNEY, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Social media companies have collectively deactivated nearly five million accounts belonging to Australian teenagers just a month after a world-first ban on under‑16s took effect, the country's internet regulator said, a sign the measure has had a swift and sweeping impact.

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[–] 19 points 9 months ago

Just signed up for a reddit account with a new email address to test this, I said I was born in the 1990s, no verification required, immediate access to everything.

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    [–] 13 points 9 months ago* (3 children)

    Next headline, 4.7 million teens move to Fediverse.

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    perhaps a big total of 20

    the ban is so harsh it can be bypassed by saying you were born earlier and that's it, so absolutely no one will be affected or care

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    Isn't Australia the totalitarian state where you must verify your identity to use social media? If so, then just saying you're older won't work. If not, then the law is completely pointless.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Not only Id. like many new Id verification systems, that have the ALT option of taking a selfie... Which is easily bypassed by any AI image, or searching for "picture of a man" and taking a """"selfie""" of that.

    Or using a relative's ID. As of now they don't care to check if the ID or Picture matches the social media profile, I guess they (social media platforms) only care about complying even if the implementation is flawy

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    • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    I'm not sure if this is a good or bad idea but I think it's worth trying.

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  • [–] 16 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    It’s good in the sense that research suggests social media is terrible for teens. Well, anyone in general but especially teens.

    It’s bad in the sense that you need to prove you’re not a teen. How does one do that? By handing over PII and trusting it won’t be abused or exfiltrated.

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    • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    Don't worry they will just join gambling sites that have been designed to pull them in. The lobbyists had the provisions that applied to gambling killed. Gambling should not be this powerful

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