Under new laws coming into effect in Australia, users will need to provide proof of age before using social media sites. This new initiative is focused on preventing users under 16 from opening accounts. The regulation will go into effect December 2025. Under the bill, it will obligate social media companies to take “reasonable steps” to verify their users’ ages. This dramatic shift has understandably raised alarm bells among cybersecurity experts. They caution that misunderstanding about the verification process will inevitably spark a wave of scams.
Mohiuddin Ahmed, senior lecturer in computing and security at Edith Cowan University, warned that deploying age verification technologies was fraught with risks. He specifically stressed how these technologies could bring enormous bumps in the road. As many Australians understandably feel, they will be required to provide their birth certificates or driver’s licenses simply to use social media. This misconception fuels an “information vacuum” that fraudsters can take advantage of by masquerading as real social media platforms, such as Meta.
CEO of not-for-profit support service IDCARE, Dr David Lacey, said older Australians are especially vulnerable at this time. As they go through this transition, they are especially vulnerable to scams. Specifically, he cautioned that scammers will try to impersonate legitimate companies to trick users into providing personal information.
These fears were expressed by Associate Professor Toby Murray of the University of Melbourne’s School of Computing and Information Systems. He emphasized that opaque age assurance methods will only lead to more scams and frauds. He stated:
“When different platforms might be using different technologies, that only creates additional uncertainty and confusion for people.” – Toby Murray
Combined with the lack of clarity on approved age verification methods, this is raising alarm that scammers will adopt approaches seen in past scams. Mass text message scams would be allowed to spring up. People may get messages that look like they’re from Facebook asking them to click through to confirm their age.
“Mass text message scams where people are getting texts purporting to be from Facebook saying, ‘You’ve got to click this link and verify your age before you’re able to log into your Facebook account again’… It’s not impossible that we might start to see that kind of stuff emerging,” – Toby Murray
Australia’s greatest minds are concerned for the Australian people. They are often not friendly to online access and can inadvertently allow scams to flourish. The rollout of two-factor authentication introduced some predictable hurdles. This drives home the idea that new security measures can often jacob’s ladder paradoxically introduce even more vulnerabilities.
“If the scammers use the stolen ID to apply for multiple credit cards or other loans, then the victim will have a tough time rebuilding their credit score.” – Mohiuddin Ahmed
Murray noted the importance of understanding these risks as age assurance technologies become more common:
Murray noted the importance of understanding these risks as age assurance technologies become more common:
“As age assurance technologies are going to start to become more widely rolled out, people are going to have to learn what risks they present and how to use them securely.” – Toby Murray
