The federal government has introduced a world-first plan to ban kids younger than 16 from accessing social media.
For some, it’s either an election-winning policy that addresses the anxieties of mums and dads across the country, while for others, it’s a poorly thought-out, privacy-stealing power grab.
The ban has received bipartisan support from the government, and is endorsed by all the states and territories – so what’s the big deal if it comes into law?
Should children be banned from social media? The Briefing explains how the ban will affect you:
Seventeen-year-old Leo Puglisi, founder of 6News, described the idea as “ridiculous” when speaking against the ban
“Overall, I get the need to protect young people online. I fully support those kind of that kind of initiative,” he told The Briefing.
“But when we’re talking about this kind of ban, it’s, you know, restricting vulnerable kids who might need it. It’s telling parents that, you know, they don’t even have control, you know, with no exemptions.”
Those in favour see the ban as a way for parents to finally have control over what their children are consuming on social media.
Libertarian MP David Limbrick said parents could consider resources like Apple family controls, arguing taking away social media means also removing the right of freedom of speech and access to diverse viewpoints.
“Once you’ve got a digital ID in place, you can use that to limit the age you can access social media. Why wouldn’t the government come in with bans on particular individuals that they don’t like?
All of that’s totally possible to do once they get that system in place.
“Whenever they come up with some sort of awful overreach that interferes with people’s lives, they’re always always going to say, ‘we’re trying to protect children or we’re trying to stop the terrorists’,” he said.
“Ultimately what they’re really doing is they’re setting up a framework whereby they can put in all sorts of other controls, not just age controls, anything they want.”
Puglisi, Limbrick and tech and political commentator Stilgherrian join Chris SPyrou on The Briefing to unpack the social media ban in detail. Listen to the episode now to hear what each of the three has to say.