The editor: Tech giant excuses over age restrictions are weak

The preliminary results of a world-first trial for age verification technology found it would be “private, robust and effective”, clearly demonstrating the proposed legislation is feasible, and the billionaire tech giants’ excuses to resist it are running out.

As we said on the front page yesterday, there are now no more excuses for tech giants not to do the right thing and co-operate with laws to ban social media use for children under the age of 16.

The preliminary results of a world-first trial for age verification technology found it would be “private, robust and effective”.

This clearly demonstrates the proposed legislation is feasible, and the billionaire tech giants’ excuses to resist it are running out.

Pleas from them that age assurance technology was beyond their scope now ring hollow.

And that means there is little standing in the way of the laws to protect our children, which were spearheaded by our Let Them Be Kids campaign.

The nationwide campaign highlighted the harms of social media on our children – including the tragic suicides of some – which means the sooner we have these protection mechanisms in place, the better.

As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last November when the new laws were announced: “Social media is doing harm to our kids, and I’m calling time on it.’’

That “harm’’ is so intrusive and so extensive that almost every teenager in this nation has now had some experience of it.

It can range from the obsessive checking of metrics on apps, seeking reassurances that the user is getting affirmation via “likes”, to “doom scrolling” – that compulsive habit of consuming negative news online to the point the user can experience a breakdown in mental health.

Pleas from tech giants that age assurance technology was beyond their scope now ring hollow.

Yet perhaps the most hideous impact of social media comes in the form of the “pile on” – that technological version of the ancient playground scenario where kids gang up to taunt one victim.

Dolly Everett, the 14-year-old girl who died by suicide after experiencing prolonged cyber-bullying, and whose parents established the organisation “Dolly’s Dream” to raise awareness about bullying’s devastating impacts, is just one tragedy in the ongoing horror.

Dolly’s life could have been vastly different if these laws were in place when she died in 2018.

Yet, seven years on, the horror continues.

The Australian Psychological Association reported last year that a generation of children is being lost to Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as mental health disorders soar.

They are now assessing self-worth not from normal interactions with their fellow human beings, but from staring into that rectangular pool of light emitting from their mobile phones.

Professor Jon Rouse – ex-top cop and a former Queensland Australian of the Year for his work protecting children – put it best yesterday when he said social media giants had failed our kids.

“I would overarchingly say that reliance on industry service providers like Meta et cetera to provide a solution to protect children has epically failed due to just a lack of interest in doing so,” he said, pulling no punches.

Soon, it will be squarely in their interest to protect our children – it will be against the law if they don’t.

The federal government is expected to receive the final report within weeks.

It must move full-steam ahead to implementing the new laws.

A whole generation is at risk of serious mental health issues if they don’t move quickly.