It is interesting how news comes in pairs. This morning I came across a news report on Australia initiating a law that will block any child under the age of 16 from accessing the Internet. Later in the day, Forbes posted a video of Missouri Senator Josh Hawley advancing legislation to require platforms to post age limitations. Is this the right thing for everyone? Or is it the right thing just for Facebook?

Some Background

The debate over the age-appropriateness of the Internet has been ongoing since the Internet began. I was doing security investigations at that time (c. late 90’s) and I was alarmed just how predatory the Internet was getting. Seemingly harmless, child-centric web sites had portal links to pornographic sites. Few people knew of the techniques I used and many thought I was over-reacting. But it was clear that “trust no one” was a pretty good rule. With three kids in the house, I experimented with various techniques to restrict activity over the network, but nothing seemed to work better than this one simple method: put the computer in a public space where Mom and Dad could watch. It worked best for them primarily because many of the child-friendly filtering software patches were arbitrary and obstructed too many web sites, constantly requiring Mom or Dad to tap in the pin number to allow access. And this was only for their homework assignments! I took out the software and put the computer in a public place where we could observe them at all times.

The other thing I did was block Internet access on the home router from midnight till 6 AM.

But then the school started divvying out computers. First it was my daughter in high school. But when it was my son in middle school it was clear to me that the school district had not taken seriously the dangers that kids would be exposed to. Their gaslight reply was that parents could supervise their use of the computer. O really? A laptop? You know, a computer they can take with them on the bus?

Add to that the evolution of the smartphone. The flip phones I found helpful. But the smartphones were a no-no in our family until the kids neared graduation.

Meanwhile, in the background of my personal battles with new technology, tragedies were unfolding. Kids would be targeted with doxing, shamed before their classmates, and many committed suicide. Some teens would descend into a silo of darkness that would lead to horrible crimes, and many more would struggle with depression. The Internet and the phenomenal rise of social media platforms had a powerful effect on our world, and we would be quite naive to not realize that some it was terrible.

Australia

Australia, as of late, has not had a very flattering record in regards to free speech. I don’t make it a point to write about what happens in Australia, but the matter came to the forefront when two platforms I travel on were asked to censor reports and commentary on the attempted assassination of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel. First it was Gab. They refused and being a small player, they could have been slapped around. But then came X. By the time the Australian high court decided the matter (in favor of free speech), the video of the event had gone viral on every social media platform imaginable.

Yet the debate on restricting access begins to shift when talking about children. The negative effect of social media on children is quite clear. One only has to see how many school districts are banning smartphones from their campuses. The deployment of education curricula via computer is also being reconsidered. So it should not be any surprise that governments are taking a hard look at what happens to children when they are with their peers or alone in their rooms.

Australia’s answer is to restrict access to children under the age of 16. Is this workable? I mean, just how easy is it to lie over the Internet? Social media companies are asking that question. Sure, they can put “restrictions” on their platforms. But how would they really, truly know? The other element are the loads of alias accounts. As X recently exposed, thousands of accounts on X are imposter accounts, pretending to be American accounts when they were actually from another country. How can a company like X, which reaches the entire globe, account for users who are in Australia? Are you 17 years old just because you say you are?

What Australia’s restriction will eventually boil down to is an Internet system where access is governed by an electronic ID. Yes – the Real ID we are now using in the US for our driver’s licenses and passports. To use the Internet you must have residing on your phone or computer a digital certificate that verifies you are more than 16 years old. If not, access may still be granted but access to social media platforms restricted. Ultimately, the problem is on Australia’s end. It is not in the purview of Facebook and X or whomever to ascertain that a user is telling the truth about their age.

Facebook

Senator Josh Hawley, however, has a different perspective than mine. He is asking Facebook and others to place age limits on their platform and enforce them. And he expects them to use their technology to ascertain when a user is a child (with AI that is certainly possible). But consider how that is done. For Facebook to find a liar, they have to track their behavior. I am sure they do so already, but that is mostly to feed ads and postings to your queue. Now it is to control you. I know several adults who think and, unfortunately, act like children.

Since this is posted to the Facebook Safe Space, it is a question that Facebook users may find the need to engage. Do you agree with the age limits? News reports showed that people, by a large majority, support the idea at first impulse. As you can see from my personal history, I can justify leaning on this restriction from the standpoint of a parent who wrestled with this problem for years. I think spending time on social media needs to be restricted. Not by the government. By me! But I also see little value for Internet access for children. And the social platforms teeming with adults who are behaving badly is no place for a child – Facebook included.

What Does Facebook Do to Verify Your Identity?

Key to the success of age restrictions is verifying whether the user is less than 16 years old. Most of us should know the following about Facebook.

Entering your birth date is optional in some countries
Publishing your birth date is optional
You must be at least 13 years old to set up an account on Facebook in the US
Facebook utilizes a service called Yoti to verify people’s ages. I get the impression that this service is only used if you request that it be used.

We partner with Yoti, a third party age verification service, to confirm people’s ages on Facebook. Yoti is verified by the Age Check Certification Scheme and is the leading age verification provider for several industries around the world including social media, gaming and age restricted e-commerce. (from Facebook Help)

Facebook offers a verification option for users that requires the submission of two photo ID’s such as your driver’s license and a passport. You may wonder why anyone would bother with that level of verification. After all, this is Facebook. This is not the TSA or the Social Security Administration. LinkedIn has a similar verification option. I went through that level of verification on LinkedIn for the simple reason that it assures users on LinkedIn that I am who I say I am. I have noticed an uptick in readership since then. Facebook has a broader audience. If you find that users do not trust you, especially if it is related to your work, then verification may be an option to explore. This may have more value to business accounts and professionals who depend on to Facebook to communicate to their market and clients.

There is also a Meta verification option which requires a subscription fee, currently $11.99 per month. My guess is that if Facebook is to comply with the Australian rules, it will need to have a far less expensive, if not free, avenue for age verification.

Personally, for the life of me, I got a verification check-off for my personal account but I can’t recall how. It looks similar to the verification badge shown below from X. My guess is that verification must have been earned during an earlier dispensation of the verification process and may be based on a variety of standards. My professional account does not have a verification badge.

Twitter Verification Symbol — Verification Tag on X

But I am not certain Facebook’s verification system is up to speed for small-time users. I shared my experience with the process in “Keeping Score – Solving the Problem of Fake Accounts.” Not too encouraging. But as you can guess, if submitting a driver’s license is required to verify age, then this verification option may become standard procedure.