Australia Introduces New Social Media Ban
It’s no secret that social media isn’t exactly the best for [you.][Keep watching out for that second person pronoun!]
It’s all been said before. Endless studies detailing the dangers of social media: increased anxiety, depression, jealousy, cyberbullying, FOMO, misinformation, racism, sexism, the list goes on.
Still, there are roughly 4.8 billion social media users around the world, according to the University of Maine. and social media is an infinite well of it.
Unfortunately for many teenagers in Australia, officials have deemed that social media is simply too harmful to keep around for some youth. The Australian government reported on Thursday, January 15th, that nearly five million social media accounts belonging to Australian teenagers were disabled after a law regarding social media was passed. As can be expected from those affected, the ban was met with widespread outrage, annoyance, and various forms of sorrow. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this either. Former examples include the American TikTok ban, which was met by waves of satirical heartbreak.
The new law affected 10 different social media platforms: Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, Youtube, Threads, Kick, Twitch, Reddit, and Snapchat. The companies were told to take “reasonable steps” to prevent users under 16 from accessing their services. Failure to comply would have led to fines of about 49.5 Australian dollars, or around 33 million USD.
“Change doesn’t happen overnight,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “But these early signs show it’s important we’ve acted to make this change.”
The ban has also interested other countries, who said they are considering similar bans. Said countries include Denmark, the European Union, France, New Zealand and Malaysia.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that the ban has had quite the impact that it was aiming for. Many Australian teenagers reported that they were able to circumvent the ban by either lying about their age or bypassing verification systems that the apps had put up. Jack Okill is one of these teens.
Jack Okill, 15, was one of the teenagers affected by the ban. Before the ban, Okill had a following of 1500 on the platform Instagram, where he connected with his peers and advertised his political podcast “Your First Vote.”
“I was quite frankly annoyed when I opened my phone, went on Instagram to check what’s happening, and it just said I’m logged out,” Okill said.
Okill said that he had used his mother’s information to create an account he could use until he turns 16, when he would be able to reclaim his deactivated one.
“I’m old enough to know what’s happening in the world,” he said. “But the government is treating us like children.”
Others weren’t even affected by the ban in the first place. 14-year-old Raeve said that he was able to regain access to his Youtube account by changing his age and that his Reddit account remained unaffected.
“It’s undoubtedly done nothing, from my view,” said Raeve. Raeve also reported that his father was prompted by YouTube to verify his age with an ID or a photo, while Raeve’s account was not flagged at all.
Over the years, many countries have considered or proposed bans and restrictions on social media. Germany appears to be the most productive in their efforts after Australia, the current ruling party “backing a social media ban,” according to the Guardian. Close behind are a variety of countries with various geographic locations, like France, Malaysia, and Japan.
It still remains unclear whether current governments will be able to beat down tech giants and onslaughts of angry teenagers, but whatever happens, rest assured it will make great views.
Great job! I love your use of diverse forms of evidence!
