(Age) Verified by Law: Privacy, Anonymity and the New Era of Online Safety

Often seen as countervailing interests, this session treats privacy as a pre-requisite for online safety, and not as an afterthought. As Australia continues to navigate its world-leading social media ban — and implement online safety codes with similar effects — and Singapore tightens age-gating for app distributors with more changes to come, the “right to be forgotten” is being replaced by the “requirement to be known.” This panel examines the intersection of Australian and Singapore online safety and privacy laws, exploring how to build a safer internet while respecting data minimization and avoiding “privacy honeypots.” The session will suggest a privacy-by-design age assurance workflow, provide tips to businesses on where in the tech stack age assurance should sit, and discuss how to use data obtained through the process effectively and compliantly.

Join industry experts and move beyond the theoretical, to examine real-world deployment of facial age estimation, app store/platform coordination and zero-knowledge proof. Attendees will leave with practical examples of how to align sometimes-competing interests in a way that protects minors and aligns with business interests.

What you will learn:

• Ways to implement privacy-preserving age assurance across the region, while still aligning with EU, U.S. and other global mandates.

• Alternative options when conventional methods of age assurance fail and how to build them into your workflows.

• Adapting existing compliance methods to new online safety requirements, including privacy impact assessments and data minimization in age assurance.