America has recently taken steps to dissuade foreign governments from censoring US-based platforms, including the proposed GRANITE Act and sanctions against five EU officials.
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 time-frame 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 the regulatory guidance, the highest-level safety filters need to be applied by default to accounts suspected to be operated by someone under 18, companies must create a reporting mechanism to flag violators, and search results must be filtered for unsafe content like 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.”
