TechFlow, Dec 30 — According to Cointelegraph, new regulations from Australia's eSafety Commissioner officially took effect on December 27, requiring search engines such as Google to verify the age of logged-in users and filter content for others. The regulation grants companies a six-month period for full compliance, mandating age verification through methods including photo ID, facial scanning, credit cards, and digital IDs, while applying the highest level of safety filtering by default to accounts suspected of belonging to users under 18.
Meanwhile, the Irish government has announced plans to push for similar social media age verification measures across the European Union during its presidency of the Council of the EU in July 2026, proposing a ban on anonymous accounts to combat online hate speech and disinformation.
