This whole thread is confidently wrong people arguing about legislation they have no understanding of. Social networks have already very accurately estimated your age for the purposes of selling advertising to you. The legislation expects them to use this estimate to restrict access to under 16s. So far it seems to be working pretty well in Australia, only children have been affected.

The law forbids government ID as the sole age verification mechanism, but does not prevent it from being an option:

> As stated in the law passed late last year, platforms also cannot rely solely on using government-issued ID for age verification, even though the government-backed technology study found this to be the most effective screening method.

> Instead, the guidelines will direct platforms to take a "layered" approach to assessing age with multiple methods and to "minimise friction" for their users — such as by using AI-driven models that assess age with facial scans or by tracking user behaviour.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-15/social-media-ban-fina...