Porn trial targets social media giants

Social media giants will be asked to participate in a $6.5m age assurance trial to prevent children and under 18s from accessing porn, detailed and graphic online violence or other harmful content.

Speaking at a parliamentary probe into social media on Tuesday morning, the head bureaucrat tasked with rolling out the trial confirmed that companies like TikTok and Meta would be asked to take part.

While the government had yet to “formally” seek their co-operation, “informal” conversations were under way, Online Safety, Media and Platforms assistant secretary Bridget Gannon said.

“We haven’t had any pushback to date, but I think we would need to formally request their co-operation rather than make assumptions,” Ms Gannon said

“We would like them to participate in the trial by making their technologies available for trialling.”

Although Ms Gannon conceded the government was “relying” on the co-operation of social media companies, she said it would be “in their interest to co-operate because it will go to enforcement of the phase 2 codes” (that have yet to be developed).

“We’re doing it in the context of children’s access to pornography … but we’ll also be looking at younger ages, for the work that the government has asked us to do on children’s access to social media,” she said.

“For that social media work, we will also be looking at consulting with experts, with children, with parents, to understand their concerns and their interests on this issue.”

In administering the trial, the government will engage a third party “tech company”, with the procurement process to begin shortly.

However, senator Sarah Henderson lashed the effectiveness of the trial, dubbing it as a “research project”.

“You’re not actually asking the social media companies to trial anything, to actually apply the age verification trial in any way, you’re simply researching what technology is available,” she said.

Communications and media deputy secretary James Chisholm rejected the claims.

“We don’t depend on the platforms doing certain things for us to do the trial,” he said.

“The government is trialling the technology to assess its effectiveness.

“It’s not different to the government undertaking assessment of the effectiveness of laws or regulations and forming its own views about that and then moving towards regulation to reflect that work.”