r/privaussie • u/pxwerr • Nov 26 '24
Will using a VPN be a workaround solution to access social media?
With the government introducing the social media ban for under 16s they'll be requiring people to verify their age with ID. A VPN seems like a logical and easy way to dodge this but is it as simple as that...? Any info would be appreciated 🙏🏻
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u/zyzzthejuicy_ Nov 27 '24
Maybe, maybe not but definitely worth a try.
If you're logging into an existing account from "Zimbabwe" but that account has your location as "Australia" it's possible that might mean you need to verify I assume.
You may also encounter issues logging in from some VPN endpoints I used to get endless trouble logging into Instagram when I was on ProtonVPN.
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u/mallu-supremacist 24d ago
Yeah see this is the issue, imagine a tourist or expat comes to Australia, stays for a bit, makes some accounts then goes back to their home countries. Now they are stuck with Australian digital ID bullshit.
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u/zyzzthejuicy_ 23d ago
Never fear, the Government will make sure to have their $1500 a day consultants examine the problem in detail and come up with a solution that doesn't work and make everyone unhappy!
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u/Marble_Wraith Nov 28 '24 edited Nov 28 '24
No it's not as simple as that.
A VPN... assuming you're using a good provider, will anonymize your connection and get around region blocking.
Think of it in terms of plumbing and your connection is the water, no one knows where it came from, or what route of pipes it took to get to the tap on the other side. They can only see it once it exits.
But at the end of the day, you're still required to login to an account to use social media.
If the service that holds the details of that account (facebook, insta, tiktok, etc) is forced to vett your credentials via a digitalID, the service itself can permit/deny access.
What does this mean?
If you're a 15 year old with an existing social media account. Assuming the social media providers are serious about this, you'll be forced to remake your account using a VPN connection to make it appear as if you're in another country.
Furthermore depending on your VPN's capabilities / configuration you may be faced with extremely annoying notifications from the service, because to them it's going to look strange if you login from New Zealand and then 5 hours later login from Seville in Spain (on the other side of the planet). And so, you'll get that thing where it says "is this you? we've detected a login..."
Recommendation
Get out early. This stuff is going to happen one way or the other. Even if it's not successful as Labors initiative, the LNP will pick it up, dust it off, and maybe slap a new label on it in the next election cycle. Why? 2 reasons:
The LNP are leaning that direction anyway eg. e-safety (stasi) commissioner.
The LNP have already burnt bridges with the social media companies (media bargaining code). Without an absolutely gargantuan amount of "$donations" and/or algorithm rigging, social media companies aren't going to get the LNP to change stance.
I predict what will end up happening is:
Some people will try and circumvent the blocks. Most of those measures will require $money and a degree of technical skill that make it unrealistic for most people let alone the average 15-and-under year old to use.
We'll see a new type internet service emerge which i'll dub "local media" which hearkens back to the older internet of "private" message boards and forums but with social media-esque features... kinda like a reddit sub but with a less sucky phone app. The important difference being, to get account you'd have to be "invited" IRL, probably use something like an NFC exchange token or somethin. With this there's enough of a difference to claim those platforms are not "social media" because by definition they're private, but at the same time they have enough convenience regarding registration and access to be a decent substitute.
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u/SicnarfRaxifras 29d ago
They’ve already got (2) it’s why Discord is popular with the affected age groups
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u/Marble_Wraith 29d ago
Discord is hosted on google... have you been paying attention to the recent DoJ rulings?
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u/SicnarfRaxifras 29d ago
No I’m not American
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u/Marble_Wraith 29d ago
Might wanna look into it... needless to say google's got problems.
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u/SicnarfRaxifras 29d ago
I mean I know they are looking at antitrust and breaking them (Google) up but I don’t use Discord so I’m not sure what you’re referring to as it’s a seperate company?
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u/YugoCommie89 Nov 28 '24
Any recommendations of VPN's that won't sell off all your data to others? Or is that just unrealistic to expect?
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u/pxwerr Nov 28 '24 edited Nov 28 '24
Would stay away from ExpressVpn for that exact reason, but NordVpn, Protonvpn and Surfshark are all good choices. I'll be getting Surfshark personally
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u/WeirdVisual4359 29d ago
To be super safe, change your "lives in" location settings to somewhere in NZ, and then connect to the Auckland VPN server. Ping time is about 30ms from Sydney on average, so you probably wont notice any difference in internet performance if your in NSW at least.
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u/mallu-supremacist 24d ago
I have a feeling NZ will roll something similar out very soon. They are just an extension of Aus.
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u/WeirdVisual4359 24d ago
Aus Jr in a way, lol. Yea if they do and the VPN servers are affected by it then the only next best option is Singapore, but only Perth users will have the lowest ping time, still not a huge ping for everyone else but it will be noticeable.
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u/PROPHET-EN4SA Nov 26 '24
Yes