Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, only recently pulled off a spectacular coup. He recently proposed a nationwide, sweeping ban on social media accounts for users under the age of 16. This burdensome new regulation will go into effect on December 10. Its ultimate aim is to protect young Australians from the negative impacts of social media. The ban would subject social media companies to severe penalties under state law. For noncompliance, they can be fined up to $49.5 million for failing to take reasonable steps to ensure underage users cannot create accounts in the first place.
This announcement is the latest step in ongoing efforts to protect the online safety of minors. This concern has received considerable sunlight in recent years. Albanese addressed the youth directly, emphasizing the importance of spending time away from screens and engaging in more productive pursuits.
“Hi there, students. It’s the prime minister here, and I want to speak to you directly about something very important, from December 10, if you’re under 16, you’re no longer allowed to have a social media account,” – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The e-Safety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has even admitted there will be teething problems in enforcing the ban. She insisted that failure to comply would be unacceptable. Inman Grant said she had faith in the social media companies’ ability to figure out how to work under the new requirements.
“There will be teething issues, and kids will be ingenuitive (ingenious), and they’ll find their ways around it…but now it’s time for them to show us their stuff,” – e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.
The federal government intends to implement the ban through a new Digital ID system. They’re moving ahead with penalties for failure to comply. As part of the ban announcement, Communications Minister Anika Wells confirmed that over 200,000 TikTok accounts have been disabled. Communications Shadow Minister Melissa McIntosh raised her concerns about the likely anti-competitive implications of a Digital ID system. She added that she was frustrated that the federal government had decided to move forward with it despite extended uncertainty over its adoption.
While the bill’s sponsors claim improvements for young users, the implementation of the TikTok ban will have disparate impact. As an example, 12-year-old Dorotea shared how she was upset about losing connection with family members abroad because of the new regulations. She enjoys any platform where she can create video, but Snapchat and Messenger have become her go-to mediums for communicating with family and friends.
“I feel a bit upset about it because now I can’t communicate with relatives overseas,” – Dorotea.
The children are interpreting the ban as a suppression of their creativity. Dorotea’s bright, colorful, fun videos and artwork on social media. At the same time, Flossie talks on the online safety episode, where she speaks with neuroscientist Dr. Lila Landowski about social media and its potential threats to adolescent development and wellbeing. Dr. Landowski warned that social media sites prey on developing brains by releasing dopamine on a near-constant schedule. This encourages addictive tendencies, which can erode attention spans and emotional fortitude.
“It’s a time when we’re more likely to take risks…Social media is designed to take advantage of that,” – Dr. Lila Landowski (via Flossie).
After December 9, the government will more strictly enforce compliance. Then after that, they’ll be asking social media companies to provide them data on user accounts every month. This new tiered move is meant to provide greater transparency that platforms are taking concrete actions to comply and prevent massive systemic failures.
While people have raised doubts over the effectiveness of making the ban, Minister Anika Wells is hopeful the ban will be a success. She pointed to progress already achieved with major account deactivations on several platforms.
“We already know today, more than 200,000 TikTok accounts have deactivated…we’re going to ask them every month to make sure that downward trend is happening,” – Communications Minister Anika Wells.
Young users such as Barika have already made it clear that they plan to go around the ban. She then talked through her experience evading facial recognition technology on social media platforms like Snapchat. This points to the incredible impact of some youths’ resolve to preserve their social lives, despite laws and their enforcement.
“When it finally comes around to get past the social media ban? All you got to do…that worked for me for Snapchat,” – Barika.
The government is right to think it is taking world-leading steps to safeguard children from the harms associated with social media. Though well-intentioned, it needs to do so in a contentious environment rife with conflicted opinions and concerns from many stakeholders.
