World to follow suit as ‘brave’ Australia forges ahead with social media age ban to protect kids
Leading global child safety advocates have explained why Australia’s imminent social media age limit is critical to protecting kids, and how other countries should do the same.
Leading American child safety advocates have lauded Australia’s looming social media age limit as the “most monumental” step yet toward protecting kids online and urged other countries to swiftly follow suit to help shift the power dynamic out of the hands of tech behemoths.
Jonathan Haidt and Ravi Iyer predicted the groundbreaking legislation would be adopted around the globe and debunked mischaracterisations of the policy from critics including the social media giants themselves, arguing the legislation would still allow kids to access beneficial content but in a way that did not expose them to harm.
In a joint essay, psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation Dr Haidt and Psychology of Technology Institute manager and psychologist Dr Iyer praised Australia’s leadership to increase the social media age limit from 13 to 16.
“Australia is giving a gift to its parents and teens, and the benefits will soon spread globally,” they wrote.
“Their new Age Limit Policy for Account Creation is the most monumental step yet taken in the international movement to protect kids from the industrial scale harms caused by social media companies.”
Australia’s leading effort to protect children from harm, sparked by News Corp’s Let Them Be Kids campaign, is being closely watched as a test case by countries around the world.
“Australia has bravely been the first, risking criticism and punishment from powerful companies,” Dr Haidt and Dr Iyer said.
“But if other countries quickly follow, then their collective action will shift the power dynamic.”
The leading child safety advocates said children would get countless hours of their childhood back by being freed from the grips of social media.
They hit back at claims, including from YouTube that children would be blocked from accessing educational videos used by teachers. Kids will still be able to search for specific videos and information but will not have an account where they can fall prey to harmful and manipulative algorithms.
“What’s new is that some of the most powerful companies in the world are, for the first time, forbidden from entering into a business relationship with children, a relationship that internal documents show is designed to foster addiction by using children’s personal data to keep them “engaged”,” they said.
“Australia’s families and children will be better off because of this policy, and other countries will follow suit.”
The pair said the transition would likely be difficult in the first few weeks but said as with phone-free school trials, children would adapt quickly.
“Without action, we leave yet another generation to grow up under the rule of a handful of tech companies whose business models depend on capturing as much of children’s time and attention as possible,” they wrote.
“We still hope these companies will someday redesign their platforms to make them safe for teens. But they have repeatedly refused to make meaningful changes, even as they know or believe that their products are causing harm to children.”
The legislation is due to come into effect in December.
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Originally published as World to follow suit as ‘brave’ Australia forges ahead with social media age ban to protect kids
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