Julia Gillard warns Australia’s social media ban for teens does not go far enough
Former prime minister Julia Gillard has demanded tougher social media laws, claiming Australia’s under-16 ban is “nowhere near enough”.
Julia Gillard has commended Australia’s move to ban social media for under 16s but said the restrictions do not go far enough.
The former prime minister gave an address at the University of Cambridge’s Wolfson College and told the audience she is “a firm believer in social media regulation”.
“You know, in my nation, the government has banned social media now for teenagers under 16,” she said on Thursday evening (Friday morning AEDT).
“I think that’s a start, but I don’t think that that’s anywhere near enough.
“I do genuinely think governments around the world need to treat social media with the same kinds of rigour that traditional media are treated”.
Ms Gillard gave an address to a crowd of several hundred people at the event titled the ‘Lee Lecture: Reflection & Renewal’ and discussed at length polarisation in today’s world.
She was Australia’s 27th prime minister from 2010 to 2013 and is chair of global charitable foundation the Wellcome Trust.
Ms Gillard labelled it a “stupid argument” about debating whether or not social media should be determined as a publisher and be held to account like traditional media outlets.
“If it’s a publisher, it’s responsible for what’s on there, if it’s a bookstore, then it’s not,” she said.
“And I think it’s just such a ridiculous dichotomy, because if we all live next to a bookstore which was full of books about, you know, how to starve yourself to death, how to be a misogynist, how to build a bomb, we’d all be at the front of the bookstore campaigning to get it shut down.
“Governments have to be forward leaning on regulation, they’ve got to force social media companies to change the algorithms so these things cannot be said”.
Australia will introduce the world-first ban for under 16s from using social media on December 10 in an unprecedented move aimed to shield younger people from the harmful impacts of being online.
From next month social media platforms must ensure they take “reasonable steps” to stop children from being able to create social media accounts on their sites.
Social media platforms must also enforce measures to ensure that existing accounts belonging to children aged under 16 are deactivated.
The ban was announced after this masthead’s Let Them Be Kids campaign which pushed for tighter reforms for younger users.
During her address, Ms Gillard also shared criticisms of US President Donald Trump and said he had worked to ensure the “dismantling” of diversity, equity and inclusion policies which has had “ripple effects on business, universities and organisations throughout the world”.
“We must resist the rollback of measures to support diversity and in the UK, particularly focus on those businesses and organisations who are using the cover of Trump’s actions to quietly walk away from their own diversity, equity and inclusion work.
“We must also reflect on how to do better.
“We can’t ignore the state of public support for diversity initiatives or gloss over the errors in our campaigning”.
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Originally published as Julia Gillard warns Australia’s social media ban for teens does not go far enough
