Australia's AV Rules to Be Defined by Tech Giants and Porn Sites

CANBERRA—Adult entertainment platforms and large social media companies are officially tasked with collaborating with the office of Australia eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant in establishing a nationwide standard for age verification in a bid to protect the country's minors from viewing age-restricted materials such as pornography and violence. Her office announced late in June the official period of six months for technology companies and the parent companies of porn sites, like Aylo-owned Pornhub, to finish drafting an industry-led effort to define a child safety code that is acceptable to not only the government of Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese but for industry stakeholders. In an interview for The Guardian Australia, Grant said that requiring companies across the online sectors ensures "there isn't a single point of failure." Commissioner Grant explained, "The larger porn sites actually have fairly robust age verification provisions in place [but] there are going to be rogue porn sites all over the internet that are never going to comply." Age verification protocols will be established via mobile devices and app stores, among other platforms and means. Grant's mention of "larger porn sites" and their "robust" efforts to implement age verification calls attention to the ongoing efforts of Aylo to establish device-based age verification as the standard in Canada and throughout Europe. In the United States, the concept of device-based verification is still considerably controversial among adult entertainment industry stakeholders. Grant's office consensus is that the private sector's involvement in establishing the standard for a national online safety code is a much better step than unilaterally forcing inconsistent, partisan regulations. AVN has previously reported on the Albanese government adopting this course of action in August 2023. Australia's choice of not enforcing mandatory age verification comes amid a rash of new laws requiring age verification in the United States and a legislative trend in Western Europe calling for similar measures. As part of its efforts to combat gender-based violence against women, the Australian government has announced funding to test age verification for pornography websites in a pilot program. AVN additionally covered this trial period to test the technology. Like in the United States, age verification has remained a divisive issue across Australian state and national governments.