Sabra Lane: Australia's world first social media ban for teens officially starts in a week, yet from today the company Meta will start deleting the first accounts belonging to under 16s on Instagram, Facebook and threads. National technology reporter Ange Lavoipierre joined me a short time ago. Ange, what will change today?
Ange Lavoipierre: Well, this is in practical terms day one of the ban that we've been waiting for for more than a year now. It's certainly the case that it is day one for many under 16s, particularly using Instagram. You might remember two weeks ago, Meta did start sending out these warnings on email and SMS and within its apps to let some of these users know that they are about to lose access. It's not everyone under 16, but it's the people there. They say they're very confident are under 16. Now they've had their two weeks warning and today the first of those accounts will start being removed. They haven't reached everyone yet. It's the beginning. More accounts will go every day between now and the 10th. And speaking yesterday at National Press Club, the communications minister, Annika Wells, said the government accepts that this is going to take time. It will be a slow process and that does seem to be the case. Meta didn't give us the number of accounts being removed today when we asked, but they did say in a statement that yes, it would be an ongoing process. We spoke to one of their younger users who does seem to have slipped through the net so far, a 15-year-old girl named Riley who lives in Melbourne. Now, she's actually a big believer in the ban, but she hasn't been flagged for removal yet on Instagram. Here's what she had to say.
Riley: Probably because it's sort of a thing these days before the ban actually was announced where people put their age in as two, three years sort of older than they are. And I did that when I started my Snapchat and my Instagram accounts. So that's possibly why I haven't received a notification from Meta. While I do think the ban is a great thing for young Australians, I don't have the full confidence in what these platforms will be doing to make sure it actually happens.
Ange Lavoipierre: And look, entering an earlier date of birth is hardly the most sophisticated dupe out there. We know that a lot of young people have done that. And the idea is that Meta will be able to detect at least some of those over time. Hopefully most of them is what they're saying. But then there are the young people who are actively trying to bypass this ban and will actively try. We spoke to a 15-year-old in Sydney named Jack who is significantly less supportive of the ban than Riley. And he told us that he's actually going to have ongoing access to some accounts that he would otherwise lose because, well, his parents are going to monitor them, suggesting that perhaps he's getting a bit of help there from parents. But beyond that, he's just not confident in the age checking systems either based on what he's seen.
Jack : I've been told by Instagram, I've been told by Snapchat, and I know from a perspective, I won't say really much, but I know that a lot of people have been getting around the Snapchat facial verification just because it thinks they're over 16. So it's not going to work.
Sabra Lane: Sydney teenager Jack and before him our reporterAnge Lavoipierre.