To ensure compliance with upcoming Australian government regulations, Chinwag services qualifying as “social media” will have a minimum age restriction of 18 years for account holders, going forward. A verification process may be required for new accounts on creation, or retroactively for existing accounts if flagged. We will be working with a number of third-party age verification partners to implement our processes, many of whom have been operating in this space for a very long time.
If your account with a Chinwag service is flagged for verification, we are going to need you to bring us a bottle of gin (henceforth referred to as a “verification token” or “token”).
As the supply and sale of alcohol in Australia is well regulated and familiar to most citizens, we expect that this will pose a minimum of technical challenge to our users. Any of our age verification partners (such as Dan Murphy’s) will be more than capable of validating any person as over the age of 18 years and should have a readily available supply of verification tokens acceptable to Chinwag Communications, the possession of which will be considered as evidence that the account holder is a legal adult.
We expect this new policy to cause some concerns. Some answers to anticipated questions about this process are included below, and may be added to or expanded upon as the extent of our obligations under any legislation becomes clear.
Will my account need to be verified?
We may, when dictated by legislation, require any current account holder to verify their age. We may also pre-emptively flag an account for review if we believe the account holder is a minor.
Reasons existing account holders may be flagged as a possible minor include:
- Mucking about too much
- Using words we don’t understand
- Having far too much time on their hands
- Going out looking like that
- Being angry about inaction on climate change
- Not having any chance of owning a home, ever
- Discussing Roblox
Can I verify my account in advance?
Yes. Any account holder may purchase and provide us with a verification token at any time, and your accounts will be considered verified at that time, and identified as such. When you have your token, and a receipt indicating the date and time of legal purchase, please contact us for delivery.
Can I get an adult to purchase a token for me?
This situation is well-covered by existing legislation, is generally not permitted, and harsh penalties can apply. This is, however, purely a matter for our age verification partners to address. If an account holder presents us with a valid token, we will assume it was issued in full compliance with the partner’s processes, as they are much more experienced in this area than us.
How will my privacy be protected?
As required by legislation, we will ensure all evidence relating to the age verification process will be destroyed once verification is complete. Prior to disposal, the evidence will be anonymised by being combined and mixed with (at our discretion) other data, wedges of lime, and a little tonic. Evidence may be combined with a splash of vermouth and an olive if we’ve really been Having a Day.
I am 16-17, can I be verified?
At this time, our age verification partners will only supply tokens to account holders aged 18 and over. If you believe you are adversely affected by this restriction, we suggest asking your parents to contact their MP to advocate for lowering the legal drinking age.