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Australia’s social media ban is approaching, but there will be questions about whether it will work
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Australia’s social media ban is approaching, but there will be questions about whether it will work

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Like many, Willis has been using social media since her early teenage years.
While she grew up on the platforms, she says she didn’t immediately understand the impact it had on her.
However, afterwards she says she can see that many of her “behaviors” and “the content and interactions” that she had on social media platforms were “absolutely not great” for her mental health.
But the now 22-year-old Reachout Youth Advocate says she doesn’t think a ban would have stopped her.
“I think the harsh truth is that many of us think:” I would have found one way around it, “because I am sure that many young people will do that.”
Whether she would actually have is one of the many questions that experts wonder that they are wondering for six months of the implementation of Australia’s social media ban for those under the age of 16.

And from December 11 of this year, social media companies must take “reasonable steps” to prevent Australian children and teenagers younger than 16 using their platforms.

Can age security be done effectively in Australia?

A trial set by the government to the potential technologies used to assess the age of users presented their provisional findings on Friday.
Their most important finding was that “age security can be done in Australia and private, can be robust and effective”.
“The provisional findings indicate that there are no significant technological barriers that prevent the use of effective age insurance systems in Australia,” said project director Tony Allen in a statement.

“These solutions are technically feasible, can be flexibly integrated into existing services and can support the safety and rights of children online.”

The Minister of Communication will decide which apps are included in the prohibition. Source: MONKEY / Joel Carrett

With details about the accuracy of the tested technologies that are left for later release, experts are on their care for the first claim of the test.

Daniel Angus is professor of digital communication at Queensland University of Technology and the director of its Digital Media Research Center.
“One of the most important concerns we have is how industry will often inflate their accuracy and usefulness of these approaches if we know that there are still important problems when it comes to both gender and racial prejudices, but also the general lack of efficacy of these approaches,” he said.
According to the Department of Communications, a report on the government was commissioned by the Social Research Center that supports almost nine out of 10 adults for the age service measures.
Only two of those 10 had heard of at least one potential method to check the age of a person online.

“This research shows that Australians support our leading age restrictions on social media for less than 16 years on a large scale and have strong expectations of platforms when it comes to data protection and safety,” said Communication Anika Wells Minister in a statement.

Australians can be ‘in for an rude shock’

Angus says that the general public has not been sufficiently informed about the likely effects of these technologies.
“I think Australians are a very rude shock if this may be implemented, and they are suddenly forced to transfer over [their] Data to gain access to services that they have been able to open freely so far, “he said.

“It is absolutely everything you would expect in the midst of a moral panic where people together with this idea have been sucked that:” Yes, this thing is really, very bad and we have to prevent it, “but have not stopped critically about this, and then not well informed about the fullness of that risk.”

John Pane, chairman of Digital Rights Organization Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), is a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Board for the process.
He says that the EFA is “worried about the rollout of this technology, because it is not just about limiting access to social media platforms for children 15 years and younger”.
“It requires all adults who participate in the online environment, who want access to social media platforms to authenticate their age or to determine their identity as a means or part of that age authentication.

“So from our perspective it is the Trojan horse to get people used to more and more references online.”

‘A really good start’

In the midst of these concerns, some remain in favor of the prohibition, including Kirra Pendergast, another member of the stakeholder’s advisory board.
“Initially I was only against the ban, purely because of the technical solutions that are possible for some children who are technical than others,” she said.

“But after many conversations with parents in particular, it became obvious that the prohibition ensured that parents have a conversation that we had to have for a very long time.”

Pendergast is the founder of Safe on Social, an online safety advice group for schools and companies, and Chief Digital Safety Strategist at the Global Ctrl+SHFT Coalition.
“I am contacted almost every day by parents who are struggling with this,” said the cyber security expert.
“They don’t know how to say no.”
Pendergast said that parents and educators would “have much more time to get it right”.
“Like all aspects of technical security, cyber security and cyber security, it is never 100 percent. This will never be the silver bullet.
“It’s really a really good start, because it led again, it led to all the conversations we had to have at every level of society.”
Professor Tama Leaver, an Academician internet studies at Curtin University and the main researcher in the Arc Center of Excellence for the digital child, says that the ban responds to a “very real fear that parents who have social media is an unknown space”.

“If this is leading, we must be quite clear about what the legislation actually does.”

A teenager uses his mobile phone to access social media

Australia is the first country to implement a ban on social media on social media. Source: MONKEY / Dean Lewins

He warned that the implementation of the policy may not tackle all the issues discussed.

“Some damage, for example, such as cyberbullying, were highly recommended as one of the major problems that had to be solved,” he said.
“There is nothing in this legislation that tackles cyberbullying at all.
“This is at best about algorithmic reinforcement … of the experiences of young people with social media, but … we expect what has already been said that most of the messages apps are exempt from this legislation.
“So the spaces where we imagine that cyberbullying will happen the most are not touched by this legislation at all.”
Leaver was a signer of an open letter from more than 140 academics and social organizations against the ban.
“If the rest of the world looks at Australia and hope that this can be a blueprint, we will have a lot of work in the coming months to actually have a blueprint to do this practically instead of just striving to give parents some reassurance,” he said.

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