Elon Musk's X Accepts Australia Block — Thousands of Aussies Risk Losing Online Voice

The digital landscape for thousands of Australians just shifted dramatically. With a critical decision from Elon Musk's platform, X, to comply with an Australian order, a large number of Aussies now face the very real prospect of losing their online voice.

On Wednesday, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, X, confirmed its acceptance of Australia's new, internationally unprecedented mandate to bar individuals under sixteen from accessing social platforms.

X Accepts Age-Limit Rule

The company issued a statement upon the law's commencement, clarifying their position: 'It's not our choice -- it's what the Australian law requires.' The platform added, 'X automatically offboards anyone who does not meet our age requirements.'

All the named platforms had confirmed their intention to comply with the prohibition by Tuesday, except X. The eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said her office had recently discussed compliance methods with X. However, the business had not yet communicated its intended policy to its user base.

X, the platform previously known as Twitter, was the last of the 10 social media services targeted by the restrictions to detail its plan to implement the Australian prohibition. This means that all services, including well-known names such as Reddit, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, have now committed to removing underage accounts.

Bluesky, a competing service to X, declared on Tuesday that it, too, would prohibit users under the age of sixteen, even though eSafety had categorised the platform as 'low risk' because it has a small user count of only 50,000 within Australia.

Initial Hurdles with the Ban

From Wednesday, these services must start removing existing accounts held by Australian users under sixteen and must also block those teenagers from signing up for new profiles. Platforms that fail to adhere to the mandate risk significant financial penalties, with reported fines potentially reaching $49.5 million (£37.20 million), according to a report by The Guardian.

The introduction of the prohibition has encountered some initial difficulties. For instance, Guardian Australia has heard multiple accounts of individuals under the age of sixteen successfully navigating the facial recognition tests used to verify identity. However, the government has already indicated it does not anticipate flawless compliance with the restriction right from the start.

Preparations Before the Shutdown

For the past few weeks, children have been busy completing age checks, exchanging contact details, and preparing for the deactivation of their accounts. Kieran Donovan, the Australian chief executive and co-founder of the age assurance company k-ID, said that his service had performed multiple age verifications over the same period. The k-ID solution was utilised by Snapchat, among other companies.

Mixed Parental Reactions

The parents of the young people impacted by the prohibition have expressed a variety of opinions regarding the new rules. A mother or father, speaking to the Guardian, mentioned that their 15-year-old was 'very distressed' because 'all her 14 to 15-year-old friends have been age verified as 18 by Snapchat.'

As their daughter was correctly identified as being under sixteen, they worried that 'her friends will keep using Snapchat to talk and organise social events and she will be left out.'

Another parent commented that the restriction had compelled him to instruct his child to violate the rules. He explained: 'I've shown her how VPNs work and other methods on bypassing age restrictions.'

'I've had to set her up with her own adult YouTube account and have assisted her in bypassing TikTok's age-estimation and will keep doing so each time it asks,' he added.

Conversely, some individuals expressed that the prohibition 'can't come quickly enough.' One mother or father mentioned their girl was 'completely addicted' to social media, and that the new rule 'provides us with a support framework to keep her off these platforms.'