Chanel Contos, an activist who has galvanized a national movement for consent education, has stepped up her efforts to make consent training compulsory in Australian schools. And so she appeals to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to join her on this fundamental journey. In a significant move, Contos has joined forces with thousands of politicians, celebrities, and experts, signing an open letter urging immediate action on consent training.
Contos has gone even further, though – recently launching the Fix Our Feeds campaign. This new effort encourages social media companies to allow users to “opt-in” to algorithms. As a result, this policy amendment will give Australians more agency to choose how they engage with the online world.
The Need for Consent Training
For the past few years, Chanel Contos has fought relentlessly to mandate comprehensive consent education in schools and beyond. And finally, she thinks that informed and affirmative consent are fundamental to combating sexual violence and harassment.
Beyond compliance, the intent of the policy is to put informed, affirmative consent at the center of all interactions. That’s why we are calling for an opt-in to the algorithm,” said Contos. This focus on consent training fits with her larger goal of teaching people how to have relationships that are positive, mutual, and respectful.
In addition to her advocacy, Contos aims to raise awareness of concerning statistics that demonstrate how social media has affected today’s youth. Dublin City University researchers found something shocking. Teenage boys are exposed to misogynistic and anti-feminist content within 23 minutes of registering for social media accounts. This statistic puts a fine point on the need for regulation and oversight now more than ever.
Empowering Social Media Users
Chanel Contos’ Fix Our Feeds campaign is working to reimagine the social media landscape by putting power back into the hands of users. She contends that the big social media platforms weaponized algorithms to maximize their profits. It’s not by accident that these algorithms prioritize emotionally provocative content and extreme viewpoints.
“You might just want an algorithm-free weekend, and that means that with a setting change you can have a bit of quiet,” she explained. Empowering users is a cornerstone belief for Contos. By giving them the ability to switch algorithms on or off, people have more control over their experiences online.
Contos points to the success of similar initiatives in Europe. He points out that the European Union passed the Digital Services Act in 2022, which gives users the right to choose to not receive algorithmically-generated recommendations. “The fact that it’s happening in the EU shows it’s completely possible,” she remarked.
Collective Action for Regulation
In order to make these changes possible, Contos emphasizes that the government should play a role in regulating social media’s practices. “The only people who can make it possible is the government because it does require regulation,” she asserted.
Citing the examples above, she argues that large tech companies profit from the idea that they are just too hard to regulate. She remains optimistic about the potential for positive change through collective action and cooperation between the government and advocates.
With some good collective action, and a government willing to… this is an entirely doable policy,” Contos said, confidently.
