GTA Online players in Australia will soon face age checks under new R18+ gaming rules

[midian182]

A hot potato: Australian users will soon have to prove their age to more than just social media companies. Next week, anyone in the country trying to access online games with an R18+ rating will have to go through an age-verification process. While that might not impact a huge number of titles, it will affect GTA Online.

The requirement states that search engines, social media platforms, pornographic websites, app stores, gaming providers, and generative AI systems – including explicit chatbots – must take "meaningful steps" to prevent children from being exposed to age-inappropriate content.

It's important to note that the ruling does not apply to offline games, so something like Resident Evil Requiem, which does carry an R18+ rating in Australia, won't be age-gated. However, it will apply to GTA Online, which, according to third-party estimates, has at least 400,000 players in the country.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner wrote that failure to comply with the code can result in penalties of up to AU$49.5 million (about US$34.8 million) per breach.

The rule is designed to limit children's exposure to age-inappropriate content, including high-impact violence.

Australia is no stranger to this sort of thing. Back in December, it introduced the world's first social media ban on under 16s. The legislation requires Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube to verify the ages of Australian users and close the accounts of those identified as under 16.

The age verification systems must involve more than ticking a checkbox. For the social media law, some sites use facial age estimation technology. In addition to the privacy concerns of this method, many teenagers have circumvented scans by making unusual facial expressions, applying makeup, or using VPNs. Moreover, users who passed age verification checks have used their faces to help friends and family members sidestep the ban.

Last year saw leaked images reportedly showing Rockstar Games' age verification system for GTA Online. It gave the option of using facial scans or sending in photos of government IDs.

Age verification systems remain a controversial area. Discord's recent age-check crackdown led to an exodus of users from the platform. A few days later, the company admitted it made mistakes and said it was delaying the rollout of its age verification changes until the second half of 2026.

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GTA Online players in Australia will soon face age checks under new R18+ gaming rules

 

[Burty117]

You know what confuses me about this, GTA is an age rated game, it's illegal to sell a copy to someone under the age of 18.

So why do you need age verification also in the game? Surely the time and effort spent implimenting another verification system would be better spent stopping 18+ rated games getting into childrens hands in the first place?

 

[jonny888]

You know what confuses me about this, GTA is an age rated game, it's illegal to sell a copy to someone under the age of 18.

So why do you need age verification also in the game? Surely the time and effort spent implimenting another verification system would be better spent stopping 18+ rated games getting into childrens hands in the first place?

Illegal to purchase but not to own and play, I believe. So parents buying it for their kids is fine, and they've been able to play it unchecked. Nothing you can do to stop adults buying the game for others, short of making that illegal too, but good luck enforcing that. Age checking within the thing itself is probably the most robust way to deal with it, even if the idea of this much verification is a bit draconian and worrisome.

 

[gdavid65]

If an adult purchases the game (which they must do with a credit card, which must be age verified?) for their children, then I would have thought they've given permission for their minors to play the game.

Same in the 1980's, if a parent let a minor watch an R18 move, well nothing prevented this, it was all up to parent responsibility.

 

[MasterAce]

Nothing about streaming services with R rated movies?

 

[TheBigT42]

Illegal to purchase but not to own and play, I believe. So parents buying it for their kids is fine, and they've been able to play it unchecked. Nothing you can do to stop adults buying the game for others, short of making that illegal too, but good luck enforcing that. Age checking within the thing itself is probably the most robust way to deal with it, even if the idea of this much verification is a bit draconian and worrisome.

If a parent is letting there kids to play it....they will just do the age verification for the child. Also as a parent...It is NOT the government's to tell me what my Child can play or not play.

This isn't about "protecting the children"...It is about CONTROL

 

[Beerfloat]

If an adult purchases the game (which they must do with a credit card, which must be age verified?) for their children, then I would have thought they've given permission for their minors to play the game.

Same in the 1980's, if a parent let a minor watch an R18 move, well nothing prevented this, it was all up to parent responsibility.

This is the way

 

[Anton Longshot]

As a kid I had access to pretty much EVERYTHING the Powers that Be seek to keep out of reach of youngsters at NOT YET any price.

Yet I grew up to become a well-educated friendly and polite adult.
CAVEAT: I'm possibly an outlier and everybody my age who had access to the same stuff as a kid might now be a perverted traiterous serial killer. And shoplifter! Maybe even wear other-gender underwear OMG!

 

[jonny888]

If a parent is letting there kids to play it....they will just do the age verification for the child. Also as a parent...It is NOT the government's to tell me what my Child can play or not play.

This isn't about "protecting the children"...It is about CONTROL

Don't mistake anything I said as an endorsement of it being a good idea. I hate the idea. I'm simply saying why they seem to consider is necessary.

 

[Karlos95]

If they implement this, I'll either use a fake ID or never play again. Goodluck with your sales of GTA 6 Rockstar. These companies that keeping bending over for globalist governments are going to feel it in their sales.
Every country that requires digital ID will turn in to a civil war and if it doesn't, the majority of sheep are brainwashed *****s to allow the Epstein class dictate what they can and cant consume when we all know what they have been consuming on that island.

 

[TheBigT42]

This is the way

This is the way