Isabella Higgins: There's fresh doubts about the viability of the teen social media ban, with children repeatedly misidentified in their 20s and 30s in recent government trials. The ABC can reveal that face scanning technology tested on school students could only guess their age within an 18 month range in 85% of cases. National technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre has this story.
Student 1: Oh it gave me 29 that same one. I've been told my whole life I look like I'm four years younger than what I actually am.
Student 2: 19, 37, 26 and I think it was 23 as well. So yeah, it's pretty inconsistent.
Student 3: 13. She's got 13. You're getting younger by the minute.
Ange Lavoipierre: This is facial age estimation in action. The technology was being tested on students at John Paul College in Canberra. They're among more than 1,000 students from all over Australia who've taken part in the government's age assurance technology trial over the past few months.
Andrew Hammond: Yes, this is the first trial of its type in the world, the same as our social media ban.
Ange Lavoipierre: Andrew Hammond is the general manager of software consultancy firm KJR, which was tasked with running the show. Facial scanning is one of the technologies expected to be on offer to Australians in December when the government's social media ban begins, as a way to prove they're over 16.
Andrew Hammond: Our role as software college insurance people is to find holes in software and say, actually your baby's ugly, it's not ready.
Ange Lavoipierre: So is the baby ugly?
Andrew Hammond: I'm optimistic. There's a number of solutions that we've got integrated that work and they have a level of accuracy. Now whether that accuracy is good enough is a different question.
Ange Lavoipierre: The full results of the age assurance technology trial are not expected to be released until later this year, but preliminary data obtained by the ABC shows facial age estimation is achieving an 18-month accuracy range 85% of the time. It's currently the leading technique for guessing a person's age based on their biological characteristics, and the main one that was tested in schools.
Lisa Given: This technology is very much in its infancy.
Ange Lavoipierre: Lisa Given is a professor of information sciences at RMIT University, who has closely analysed the government's policy.
Lisa Given: I don't think the ban is viable. Hundreds of thousands of kids that fall in this kind of 14 to 18 range, they're going to really struggle.
Ange Lavoipierre: In terms of what that means for the ban, her advice to the public is to manage their expectations.
Lisa Given: I think parents are definitely headed for a rude shock in terms of what this legislation will actually deliver to them.
Ange Lavoipierre: Age verification companies are confident the ban can still succeed, despite the accuracy challenges with face scanning, saying it should be used alongside other methods. Iain Corby is the executive director of the Age Verification Providers Association.
Iain Corby: Start with a facial age estimation. If you are over the margin for error, great, you're in. If you're within that margin for error, then you have to go to a second stage and find some other way of confirming that somebody is over the legal age.
Ange Lavoipierre: A spokesperson for the communications minister, Anika Wells, has told the ABC the government will be guided by advice from the eSafety Commissioner on how best to implement the ban. It's expected to announce its plan in the coming months.
Isabella Higgins: National technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre