LONDON, England: The former general manager of TikTok in the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe said Australia’s social media ban for children is not necessarily “a win for safety”, PA Media/dpa reported.
Richard Waterworth said the enforcement of age restrictions on social media platforms in the country may lead to many “unintended consequences”.
The ban, which comes into effect on December 10, will mean that children under the age of 16 in Australia are no longer allowed to have social media accounts.
Waterworth was asked by broadcaster BBC whether he thinks it will work.
In response, he said: “Well, I’d love to see positive effects, and you know, you’ve got to support the intent of this.
“But unfortunately, my professional experience tells me that this is kind of a magical thinking solution.
“Everybody who talks about it seems to acknowledge that it’s not going to work as intended, that there are lots of loopholes.”
Waterworth said that children are going to lie about their age, meaning they will not have access to safety tools that platforms have built.
He said they will not be able to link their account to their parents’ account, and won’t have the right recommended feed of content.
“I think it’s going to have a lot of unintended consequences, and unfortunately, I don’t think that’s necessarily a win for safety,” he added.
Waterworth discussed age verification technology, commenting that it has “improved over time”.
He continued: “But you know, age verification comes with its own, again, unintended consequences.
“You have to collect data, biometric data, in order to do that and so that’s a challenge, and not something that a lot of people would want, you know, companies holding their biometric data.
“Having to do that creates a lot of other issues, so … it’s not a silver bullet.”
Waterworth was general manager for TikTok in the UK and Europe from 2019 to 2024. – BERNAMA-PA MEDIA/dpa
