Doesn't there have to be a certain number of users for this to apply to them? I could have sworn I saw it had to be over 50,000.
this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2025
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Apparently aussie.zone is asking users to DM evidence of being over 16, and the implication is that of those who don't - he'll ban/delete their accounts.
But absurdly enough, 4chan is exempt from this because all activity on there is anonymous. Not through accounts. So if the Fediverse had anonymous, non-account posting on-top of regular account-based posting then people could post anonymously happily, but anyone with an account would have to verify.
Make it make sense.
4chan is exempt from this because all activity on there is anonymous
So, the politicians' concern is that kids will say dumb stuff on the internet, and it will haunt them for the rest of their life?
Wow more fascists inviting themselves in places they are not invited.
Oh, apparently their attempt at following the law is pretty ridiculous. https://aussie.zone/post/27246692
pretty ridiculous
In the good way, yes. Who was it the admin of a Lemmy instance, I think, who said he would receive alcohol as a form of ID verification because to even acquire it legally in the first place you have to be of age, anyway? That's pretty much golden and incentivizes the local economy!
Local? They'd be getting alcohol from all around the world :D
Well, they'd be supporting their local businesses for that I'd hope!
I’d say their attempt is actually better than what the government came up with. I also thought the idea of chatting with a bot that guesses your age was pretty funny.
But absurdly enough, 4chan is exempt from this because all activity on there is anonymous.
Don't think that's it, it has no footprint in Australia. Meta, &Google, X etal all do, same as piefed.social, lemmy.world etal have no Australian base. aussie.socal users can just move to another server. I'm an Aussie.
Similarly UK has tried to get 4chan, kiwifarms etc but they have no UK footprint so they just ignore them.
Similarly UK has tried to get 4chan, kiwifarms etc but they have no UK footprint so they just ignore them.
No, that's a matter of enforcement. UK is still trying to fine 4chan - but failing. Australia has just outright said the law doesn't apply to them.
I saw someone earlier say it was on the basis of anonymity…people don’t actually have ‘accounts’, so there’s nothing to verify. How accurate that is I don’t know and I’ve never used 4chan.
Don't give them anything, that instance is run by the worst parts of r/australia. They cannot be trusted.
yes you should be very weary of sending someone a photo you took while driving a car that doesn't inlcue your face /s
To my fellow Aussies:
The social media ban works through DNS, just change your DNS to either 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 in your router settings and browser setting. I've had no problems so far, but if that doesn't work you can always use TOR or another VPN service.
wait, it actually works through dns?
Yeah.
So far, changing my DNS has worked fine for me. I've had no requests of ID from any of the socials.
No, it's account based, in a lot of cases changing your DNS won't change the server you end up with at Youtubes or whoever
Age-restricted platforms are expected to take reasonable steps to:
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find existing accounts held by under-16s, and deactivate or remove those accounts
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prevent under-16s from opening new accounts
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prevent workarounds that may allow under-16s to bypass the restrictions
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have processes to correct errors if someone is mistakenly missed by or included in the restrictions, so no one’s account is removed unfairly.
Does every Australian now have to prove their age to use social media?
For example, if someone has had an account since Facebook started in Australia in 2006, Meta could reasonably assume they are older than 16 so no further check is needed.
https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions/faqs
Platforms then use a variety of signal's to detect if someone is under 16:
DNS has nothing to do with it
changing the DNS works when the site has been banned for not complying, is how I understood.
there's no banning or blocking of social media sites
Quad9 is also a great provider for privacy: 9.9.9.9 ... In case you want to avoid google and cloudflare.
That's also a good choice, there are others too. I would suggest to everyone look around for a good generic DNS provider.
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