MELBOURNE, Australia – How do you get kids out of harm's way on social media? Politically the answer seems simple in Australia, but the solution is likely to be more difficult.
The Australian government's plan to ban children from social media platforms including X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram until they turn 16 has become a political sensation. The opposition party says it would have done the same after winning the election which would have been over in a few months if the government had not acted first.
Leaders from all eight Australian states and territories have unanimously backed the plan, although Tasmania, the smallest state, would like the limit to be set at 14.
But a combination of expert voices in the field of technology and child welfare have reacted with fear. More than 140 such experts have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticizing the 16-year age limit as “too blunt a tool to deal effectively with risks.”
Details of how it will be used are scant. Members of Parliament debated this bill in parliament this week, and it is expected to be passed into law with the support of major parties.
Here's a look at how some Australians view the issue.
A troubled teenager
Leo Puglisi, a 17-year-old Melbourne student who founded the online streaming service 6 News Australia at the age of 11, is concerned that lawmakers who are introducing the law are not understanding social media and young people at home in the digital age.
“Regarding the government and the prime minister, they did not grow up in the age of social media, they do not grow in the age of social media, and what many people fail to understand here is that, like this. whether or not, social media is part of people's daily lives,” said Leo.
“It's part of their communities, it's part of work, it's part of entertainment, it's where they watch content – young people don't listen to the radio or read newspapers or watch free-to-air TV – so they can't. can be ignored. The truth is that this ban, if implemented, is just kicking the can for a young person to enter social media,” added Leo.
Leo has been applauded for his work online. He was a finalist in his home state of Victoria for the Young Australian of the Year award, which will be announced in January. His nomination petition credits his platform for “inspiring a new generation of intellectuals and informants.”
A grieving mother turned activist
One of the supporters of the proposal, internet safety campaigner Sonya Ryan, knows firsthand how dangerous social media can be for children.
Her 15-year-old daughter, Carly Ryan, was murdered in 2007 in South Australia by a 50-year-old man posing as a teenager online. In a tragic phase of the digital age, Carly became the first person in Australia to be killed by an online victim.
“Children are exposed to dangerous pornography, they are taught lies, there is a problem with body images, there is discrimination against people about sex, cyberbullying, bullying. “There are so many different risks that they have to try and manage and kids don't have the skills or life experience to manage that,” said Sonya Ryan.
“The result of that is that we lose our children. “Not only what happened to Carly, bad behavior, but we're also seeing an alarming increase in young people's suicide,” he added.
Sonya Ryan is part of the group that advises the government on the national strategy to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse in Australia.
He wholeheartedly supports Australia setting the social media age limit at 16.
“We're not going to get this perfect,” he said. “We have to make sure that there are ways to deal with what we already have which is a worried generation and a generation of children who are addicted to social media.”
A major concern for social media users of all ages is the potential privacy implications of the law.
Age estimation technology has proven to be inaccurate, so digital identification appears to be the most feasible option to verify that a user is at least 16.
Skeptical internet geek
Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University, fears the government will make platforms hold user-identifying data.
The government has already said the onus will be on schools, not children or their parents, to ensure everyone meets the age limit.
“The worst outcome seems to be that the government may inadvertently force it, which is that social media will end up being identity arbiters,” Leaver said.
“They are going to be the identity custodians which could be worse because they have a bad record of holding on to personal data,” he added.
Forums will have a year if the law becomes law to see how this closure can be done.
Ryan, who splits his time between Adelaide in South Australia and Fort Worth, Texas, said privacy concerns shouldn't stand in the way of getting kids off social media.
“What is the cost if we don't do it? If we don't put the safety of our children before profit and privacy?” he asked.
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