How Australia's world-leading social media ban will be enforced

Later this month, Australia will implement a world-first ban on social media for children, barring anyone aged under 16 from accessing certain websites and apps.

However, questions have been raised about how the ban will actually be enforced, and the government itself has admitted it won't be perfect in keeping underage users off the blocked sites.

This is what we know about how the ban will work.

FULL LIST: All the sites about to be banned for under-16s

Who is responsible for keeping children off social media?

Responsibility for enforcing the ban, which comes into effect on December 10, has been placed on social media companies.

If children aged under 16 do find their way onto one of the banned sites, they and their parents won't face any penalties.

Instead, the federal government's eSafety agency can take action against tech companies that aren't taking "reasonable steps" to keep underage users off their platforms.

READ MORE: Even platforms exempt from the social media ban aren't safe

What are those 'reasonable steps'?

eSafety hasn't specified exactly what social media companies need to do to avoid falling foul of the new laws.

"There is no one-size fits all approach for what constitutes the taking of reasonable steps," its regulatory guidance states.

In a nutshell, though, from December 10, providers need to deactivate or remove the accounts of users aged under 16, and stop those children from being able to immediately create new profiles to get around the ban.

This includes using geolocation data to check whether a user is an Australian resident, and verify that account holders are 16 or older.

While social media platforms can confirm ages by checking someone's government-issued ID, they're required to offer at least one alternative so users aren't forced to hand over their driver's licence or passport.

READ MORE: Noah learnt about the social media ban on social media. Now, he's fighting it in court

Companies have already begun rolling out age assurance technology, which can estimate and infer someone's age. 

The exact methods vary, but range from getting users to take a video selfie to analysing account behaviour and other metadata.

The government has acknowledged the ban won't be perfect and some children will get around it, but says it will have an overall positive impact.

"Just because there are under 18s who will drink alcohol today doesn't mean that it's not a good, important law that we have that you cannot drink under 18," Communications Minister Anika Wells said. 

"This is about creating cultural change, and yeah, there's recalcitrance… we are creating a rule that everybody's off (social media), and the people that get around it, they will be the outliers."

READ MORE: The little-known apps kids are switching to ahead of ban

There's also a range of requirements for companies around the data they collect, making sure they don't discriminate against diverse groups, and that users have an avenue to appeal decisions made against them.

The full eSafety guidance can be found here.

What happens if social media companies don't enforce the ban?

If a social media company breaks the age restriction laws, including by failing to take reasonable steps to keep underage children off its platforms, it will face a fine of up to $49.5 million.

eSafety can also take the offending company to court to seek injunctions or undertakings from it in response to any breach.

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