How children can get around new rules that require personal ID for internet use

September 26,2025

Will Australia’s new social media ID rules stop children under the age of 18 from being able to access inappropriate internet content as intended?

Not at all.

The rules, which will come into force on 27 December, will require all users of Microsoft and Google to provide personal identification to verity their ages. This could include photo ID, face scanning, credit cards and digital ID.

The theory is that this will allow these tech giants to identify the ages of all their users so they can filter inappropriate content for teens.

Even children know it won’t work.

This is how 14-year-old AJ explained he would avoid the ban.

‘It’ll be so easy to get around. Everyone’ll get a VPN [a virtual private network, which masks your IP address] and get a secure tunnel to the internet. I’ll just change my name, my age, my location, my country. I’ll literally become Polish and avoid the ban entirely.’ 1

Furthermore, trials have shown that some of the age-assurance technology planned for use is not reliable.2

There is a much more simple and reliable solution for protecting our kids from online content: don’t allow smart phones to be sold to children under the age of 16 – or 18, if you prefer – just as it’s not legal to sell alcohol or cigarettes to children under 18.

  1. ‘Generation Regret’, Ros Thomas, The Australian Weekend Magazine, 16-17 August, 2025

     

  2. ‘Australia is quietly introducing 'unprecedented' age checks for search engines like Google’, Ange Lavoipierre, ABC News,

     

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To reproduce this article for your network, please include the following text: Article reproduced with permission from EMR Australia, www.emraustralia.com.au

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