Australian Senate Backs Inquiry into Age Checks for All Search Engine Users

The Internet Search Engine Code will require all search engines to verify the age of Australian users by the end of year.

In this photo illustration a person holds a phone in New York City on June 17, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Australian senators have backed a motion for a committee to investigate age verification technologies to be used in search engines as part of a broader effort to limit children from seeing disturbing content online.

The Internet Search Engine Services Online Safety Code (pdf), developed by the eSafety commissioner, will require search engines to check the age of every Australian internet user.

Yet after a motion backed by the Greens, the Liberals, and minor parties, the Environment and Communications Reference Committee will now be tasked with examining the Code, as well as regulations linked with the under-16 social media ban passed in November last year.

This will include the privacy and data protection issues that come with deploying age verification on such a broad scale, as well as the expansion of data collection by corporations in order to comply with the new law (pdf).

Further, it will look into how age verification and content filtering mechanisms are implemented, along with alternate approaches to online safety. Lastly, it will consider “appropriate oversight mechanisms” for online safety enforcement.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young moved the motion at the request of fellow Green David Shoebridge on Aug. 27. The motion passed with 39 in favour and 23 against.

“The Senate has just voted yes to our inquiry into the social media age ban and search engine age verification codes! This isn’t just about kids—it’s a national age verification and identification system masquerading as being about online safety for children,” Shoebridge said on X.

“The inquiry will soon begin accepting submissions so watch this space for more details.”

One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts moved a motion to amend this inquiry to include the rights and responsibilities of parents to decide what is best for their children.

However, his amendment was defeated. Despite this, Roberts supported the Greens.

“This code imposes an age restriction of 16 for using search engines, which needlessly restricts children’s ability to research for school, pursue hobbies, engage in social commentary, and explore other legitimate uses of search engines,” he wrote on X.

“The blanket ban reflects that age verification will be near impossible to police and will require intrusive data bases of internet users, including children, to work.”

In November last year, the Australian Parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024.

It bans anyone under-16 from accessing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Instagram, X, and now YouTube. It will apply later this year.

What Are the Codes and How Do They Work?

On top of this, in June the eSafety Commission released three of nine industry codes aimed at protecting children from online pornography, violent content, and themes of suicide and self-harm (class 1C and class 2 material).

“It’s critical to ensure the layered safety approach which also places responsibility and accountability at critical chokepoints in the tech stack including the app stores and at the device level, the physical gateways to the internet where kids sign-up and first declare their ages,” said eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant.

Search engines like Google and Bing will be required to verify the age of users trying to access material covered under class 1C and class 2 material (pdf).

“By no later than six months after this code comes into effect and where technically feasible and reasonably practicable, a provider of an internet search engine service must: implement appropriate age assurance measures for account holders,” the code states

“At a minimum, such tools and settings must filter out online pornography and high impact violence material detected in search results.”

Under the Online Safety Act 2021, the Codes are developed by industry and then assessed and approved by the eSafety commissioner.

In an interview in early August, Inman Grant said there were no concerns of overreach.

“The codes that were submitted to me by the search engines are the industry’s codes. I just need to determine whether they meet appropriate community safeguards to register them. And that’s what I did, so there was no overreach here,” she said.

Shadow Communications Minister Melissa McIntosh said the Code went too far.

“Requiring adults to log in to an account to browse the internet is taking the eSafety Commissioner’s power to a new level which needs to be scrutinised,” McIntosh said on July 29.