Education ministers from across the nation, whose teachers and school leaders will help police the restrictions, assembled for a high-level meeting in Brisbane ahead of the looming ban.
Communications Minister Anika Wells and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant spoke to ministers on Friday and revealed a resource package to help educators and parents understand the laws.
Delivered via the eSafety website, the resources cover how teachers can prepare students and what the ban means for schools, including guides for kids on what the ban means for them, how they can download their archives from apps and where they can seek mental health support.
An easy-to-navigate FAQs section for schools answers questions such as ‘How will the age restrictions impact schools that use social media platforms,?’ and ‘How should schools respond if a student is found to have access to an age-restricted account?’.
Also included are guides for parents on online sexual harassment, cyberbullying and parental controls available for different devices and apps.
“We know this will be a very monumental event for a lot of young people, so some of the resources give parents … checklists and conversation starters,” Ms Wells told a press conference.
From December 10, companies must take reasonable steps to find underage users and stop under-16s accessing the social platforms, as well as provide an accessible complaints process for users.
Tech giants face fines up to $50 million if they do not comply.
About 1.5 million accounts will be deactivated across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube and X.
Inman Grant could not detail which other social media platforms will be captured under the ban, but said more will be revealed in coming weeks.
“We have to give them (the platforms) fair due process when we’re considering these things,” she said.
“I’ve always said this list will be a dynamic list.
“We’ll let you know when we’re ready to announce additional ones that are either on the list or have been exempted.”
Nations around the world are watching closely to gauge the effectiveness of the world-first ban.
Last month at a United Nations event in New York, leaders such as European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, said they will be watching how the reform turns out.
von der Leyen said she was “inspired” by Australia’s “bold” move to introduce the ban.
“You are the first to give this a try,” she said.
“We in the EU will be watching and learning from you...
“Our next generation needs us to step up, and to be daring and give this a go.”
von der Leyen said many European countries were pushing for similar laws, and that as a mother of seven and a grandmother of five, she shared the view that they should be enacted.
Inman Grant said the e-safety commission was also ramping up investigations on deepfake images circulated in schools, with artificial intelligence apps putting “potential online harms on steroids”.
Police are investigating reports that digitally altered explicit images using faces of female students from a Sydney high school were circulated online after parents came forward on Wednesday.
“We’ve seen a doubling of deepfaked image-based abuse reports to us over the past 18 months,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“This is a real cause for concern.”
Wells signalled in September the Federal Government would launch a crackdown on AI technology such as “nudify” apps.
AAP