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Australia plans to block under-16s from social media in

December

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Trial finds 'no significant tech barriers' to ban

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Trial organisers say age identification software effective

By Byron Kaye

SYDNEY, June 20 (Reuters) - Some age-checking

applications collect too much data and no product works 100% of

the time, but using software to enforce a teenage social media

ban can work in Australia, the head of the world's biggest trial

of the technology said on Friday.

The view from the government-commissioned Age Assurance

Technology Trial of more than 1,000 Australian school students

and hundreds of adults is a boost to the country's plan to keep

under 16s off social media.

From December, in a world first ban, companies like Facebook

and Instagram owner Meta, Snapchat and TikTok

must prove they are taking reasonable steps to block young

people from their platforms or face a fine of up A$49.5 million

($32 million).

Since the Australian government announced the legislation

last year, child protection advocates, tech industry groups and

children themselves have questioned whether the ban can be

enforced due to workarounds like Virtual Private Networks, which

obscure an internet user's location.

"Age assurance can be done in Australia privately,

efficiently and effectively," said Tony Allen, CEO of the Age

Check Certification Scheme, the UK-based organisation overseeing

the Australian trial.

The trial found "no significant tech barriers" to rolling

out a software-based scheme in Australia, although there was "no

one-size-fits-all solution, and no solution that worked

perfectly in all deployments," Allen added in an online

presentation.

Allen noted that some age-assurance software firms "don't

really know at this stage what data they may need to be able to

support law enforcement and regulators in the future.

"There's a risk there that they could be inadvertently

over-collecting information that wouldn't be used or needed."

Organisers of the trial, which concluded earlier this month,

gave no data findings and offered only a broad overview which

did not name individual products. They will deliver a report to

the government next month which officials have said will inform

an industry consultation ahead of the December deadline.

A spokesperson for the office of the eSafety Commissioner,

which will advise the government on how to implement the ban,

said the preliminary findings were a "useful indication of the

likely outcomes from the trial.

"We are pleased to see the trial suggests that age assurance

technologies, when deployed the right way and likely in

conjunction with other techniques and methods, can be private,

robust and effective," the spokesperson said.

The Australian ban is being watched closely around the

world with several governments exploring ways to

limit children's exposure

to social media.

($1 = 1.5427 Australian dollars)

(Additional reporting by Cordelia Hsu; Editing by Kate

Mayberry)