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New rules requiring search engines like Google to verify the age of logged-in users — and filter the content for everyone else — went live in Australia this week.
The Australian eSafety Commissioner’s new rules came into force on Dec. 27, with a six-month timeframe for full implementation. They require search engines to verify users’ ages using methods including photo ID, face scanning, credit cards, digital ID, parental consent, AI, or third-party verification.
According to regulatory guidance, the highest-level safety filters must be applied by default to accounts suspected of being operated by someone under 18; companies must create a reporting mechanism to flag violators; and search results must be filtered for unsafe content such as pornography and graphic violence.
Privacy and free speech campaigners hold significant concerns about the regulations.
Jason Bassler, the co-founder of The Free Thought Project podcast, said in an X post on Monday that “starting 2 days ago, Australians are now required to upload their ID to use a search engine,” and speculated the country is the “beta test for a world where freedom and privacy quietly die… and it won’t stop there.”
The requirements come hot on the heels of Australia restricting access to social media platforms for users under 16, a law that went into force on Dec. 10.
Ireland pushing for social media verification in EU
The Irish government has announced plans to push similar age verification measures for social media users across Europe when it assumes the EU Council’s presidency in July 2026.
Its proposed measures would also ban anonymous accounts in the EU and require ID to post on social media under the guise of cracking down on hate and disinformation online, according to Irish news site Extra.ie.
Tánaiste, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Harris, told the publication that Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan will bring forward the proposal next year.
“We have a digital age of consent in Ireland, which is 16, but it’s simply not being enforced. And I think that’s a really important move. And then I think there’s the broader issue, which will require work that’s not just at an Irish level, around the anonymous bots,” Harris said.
A Dublin woman was recently given a six-month prison sentence for sending social media messages to the Irish leader, allegedly calling him a murderer and wishing harm to his family.
US claps back at foreign regulators over First Amendment concerns
Moves in Australia and Europe to crack down on social media companies have drawn a sharp response from the Trump administration.
US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers claimed that regulators in the UK and the EU are trying to censor US-based platforms and undermine the protections offered by the First Amendment.
“And cumulatively what all of these hostilities really announce is that Europe and the UK and other governments abroad are trying to nullify the American first amendment by enforcing against American companies and American speakers on American soil.”
In June, Ofcom, the regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, opened an investigation and threatened to fine the New York-based discussion board 4chan for violations of the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023.
Related: Telegram’s Durov: We’re ‘running out of time to save the free internet’
Some of the more radical responses being considered by the US include the Wyoming GRANITE Act, which proposes allowing US persons, individuals, or companies to sue foreign governments that attempt to impose censorship or content-moderation rules on them.
The US State Department also announced sanctions against five EU officials on Dec. 23, which it accused of leading “organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose.”
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