The Australian government recently passed legislation banning social media for children under the age of 16. The ban will officially come into effect in around 12 months’ time once the powers that be have worked out the finer details. The full scope of the ban remains unknown at this stage. However, it seems that Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Snapchat, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) are squarely in the government’s crosshairs.
Obviously, the social media giants are up in arms, as are the civil libertarians and overly sensitive do-gooders, of course. However, a recent poll revealed that 77% of Australians agree with the ban. The legislation places the onus on tech companies to implement an effective proof-of-age mechanism with fines of up to $50 million AU for non-compliance.
Australia is not the first country to attempt to restrict children’s social media use, but the minimum age of 16 is the highest set by any country to date. Also, unlike other attempts, it does not include exemptions for existing users or those with parental consent.
My Take On The Legislation
As an Australian father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, I agree 100% with the ban. In my opinion, the term “social media” is an oxymoron, with social media often incorporating the epitome of anti-social behavior – cyber-bullying, offensive comments, and despicable video clips, all are rife across social media platforms. Not to mention the scammers and data scrapers who take advantage of social media’s wide usage.
A spokesperson for Meta, owner of Facebook, is reported to have stated that the bill would be “ineffective” and not meet its stated aim of making kids safer. “Making kids safer”, what a joke. Tell that to the Australian parents who have lost a child to suicide due to cyberbullying.
I do have a Facebook account but I never post anything, it is purely for me to keep an eye on my kids and grandkids’ adventures, all of whom are adults. I experienced a concern with Facebook recently whereby a disgusting video involving animal cruelty was constantly popping up in my feed. I deleted and reported the video on numerous occasions and, finally, after six weeks received a message from Meta that the video had been removed.
This raises two important questions:
- How on earth was this disgusting video passed for publication in the first place? Clearly, Meta’s impersonal algorithm is seriously flawed
- Why does it take six full weeks for the company to take action? Again, Meta’s impersonal method for dealing with these types of issues is far from ideal
While I do wholeheartedly agree with the ban, I can see a couple of issues that might impede its success:
- Proof-of-Age: While the Australian authorities and social media giants have 12 months to nut out some sort of effective proof-of-age mechanism, at this stage it’s difficult to even guess what that might entail. Especially while mitigating any associated privacy concerns
- Circumventing The Ban: Today’s kids are tech-savvy and it will probably only be a matter of time before some young tech genius comes up with a workaround, news of which is almost certain to spread like wildfire
In France, for example, where a ban on social media exists for under 15s, reports are that around 50% of those youngsters are circumventing the ban by utilizing a VPN.
BOTTOM LINE:
Other countries, notably in Europe, are keeping a watchful eye on proceedings in Australia with a view to potentially introducing similar bans. I do hope the Australian ban meets with some success but, due to the reasons stated above, I do have my doubts.
What do you think, should under 16s be banned from social media? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Nice one Jim I agree totally. I hope we (NZ) follow. Be safe
Agreed Jim however I think we also do need to be extremely cautious on the fine print for this now that Governments around the world have become increasingly more authoritarian. Whenever they have an excuse for a power grab governments will try to grab something extra. This has happened around the world and particularly since the lockdowns during Covid. The United Kingdom as a major example is now a very scary place with people having police come to their doors and homes for interviews for simply attending a protest and posting online videos or comments about same. Some have been jailed simply for comments in their social media posts. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me…” yeah right !
Here in Australia we only just narrowly avoided the Government’s evil “Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024” that would have guaranteed to have morphed into a further form of online citizen control sooner or later. Don’t agree with having the next Covid booster ? Don’t you dare post your thoughts because the Government considers that misinformation !
In China now you cannot get a social media account without having to hand over all your personal ID to prove who you are. No doubt do the wrong thing there online and easily identified as a result and the Government can really make your life really miserable. Worse still, the 2am knock at the door, arrest and subsequent disappearance.
We always need to be so careful what we wish for and give “the bastards” nothing more than absolutely necessary and make them justify every damn thing. Because whether Australia has gone metric or not, “give them an inch…..”
Best regards
Reg
You might be correct Reg, I guess it comes down to a matter of what might be the lesser of two evils.
Just the other day I was on my PC checking out a new drug for managing high blood pressure. Next time I visited Facebook, about an hour later on my iPad, I was confronted with multiple ads for blood pressure drugs, and I’m not even logged in to FB on my PC.