Prime Minister, Opposition leader should make kids social media ban ‘an election promise’, radio host claims

If Anthony Albanese or Peter Dutton make an election promise to raise the age limit for social media use for children, they’ll “win the vote of every parent”, according to Nova host and social media reform advocate Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli.

If Anthony Albanese or Peter Dutton make an election promise to raise the age limit for social media use for children, they’ll “win the vote of every parent”.

That’s the challenge issued to both federal government leaders by radio star turned social media reform advocate Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli on live television on Sunday as he appeared on 10’s The Project.

“While I’ve got this camera here, to Mr Albanese, or Mr Dutton there, if you want to make this an election promise, then you will win the vote of every parent,” Wipfli said.

“I’ll leave it with you guys, we’ve got to do something.”

Nova breakfast host Wipfli, who co-founded 36 Months, a newly launched campaign pushing for the age limit for social media to be raised from 13 to 16, said he had agreed to appear on the program to call for change because “enough is enough”.

Daily Telegraph 15th May 2024Wippa and filmmaker Rob Galluzzo [Blue shirt] from FINCH production company in Paddington today. They are launching a campaign with the Daily Telegraph called 36 months to increase the age of social media use from 13 to 16.Photograph - Brendan Read

“I’m representing the parents at home, I’m representing the kids that are doing it tough because I think if you actually took (social media) away or they didn’t have it, they wouldn’t realise what it was or what it’s doing,” he told the program’s panel of hosts.

“I represent every group out there that hasn’t got a platform...I think in time we’ll look back and go ‘Did we really do that to our kids,’ I don’t want to be in that position.”

Wipfli, a father of three, said his decision to publicly back a push to raise the age limit on social media platforms was in order to protect children from the “absolute minefield” of content on social media platforms while their brains were still developing and stop the platforms from “selling your kids’ attention span”.

“If I had it my way, social media (would) start at 18,” he said.

“You are as a family trying to give the greatest influence possible to your kids, but it’s lying in an algorithm that presents something to a brain that can be easily influenced and find themselves in a vulnerable position.”

“It’s any platform with an addictive feature, it’s the continuous scroll, the likes, the shares, the comments... it’s designed to keep you there for as long as possible, because the kids’ time becomes their content.”

Wipfli urged the PM to make the age limit jump an election promise Picture: Monique Harmer

Wipfli said if Mr Dutton pledged to raise the age, he could win “the vote of every parent”. Picture: Martin Ollman

Wipfli said the campaign, which he co-founded with filmmaker and FINCH CEO Rob Galluzo had already “put the flag in the ground” to begin government discussions to raise the age through legislation but said what was needed most was for officials to stand up to social media giants.

“We’ve had some great conversations with the government, I’ve got Dom Perrottet onboard... he introduced me to all the right people so he’s been fantastic,” Wipfli said.

“We believe we’ve got a system in place, a sort of a two-phase verification, that is not too hard to implement. We could actually achieve this, but it’s gonna take a government with some plums to say ‘Hey guys, we’re not doing this anymore’.”

Originally published as Prime Minister, Opposition leader should make kids social media ban ‘an election promise’, radio host claims