Perth family’s trauma shows how social media has polluted our society

The level of financial crime, sexual exploitation, mental abuse, narcissism, intimidation and misinformation that has undeniably flowed from the creation of social media proves it has been a failed experiment.

Its platforms suit the paedophiles, perverts, self-promoters, sociopaths, psychopaths, thieves and liars across the globe because all they need is a digital device, the ability to deceive, an overblown ego or just a determination to commit online crime to make money.

A grieving Perth family has fallen victim to social media scammers with their son Levi’s name and image used to dupe the community into donating online. Pictured is Levi Tracy, inset, and his father Mark Tracy.Credit: 9 News Perth

How sick are you of hearing about the latest cyber scam or the newest form of sexual exploitation via the internet?

Every week tens of thousands of very bad things happen to people via the online world, things that could not possibly occur in the physical world at the prolific rate afforded by the sheer speed and precision of the social media phenomenon.

So many millions of people were quickly seduced by it, signed up to it and are now enslaved by the addictive, self-gratifying systems so cleverly structured by the manipulators-in-chief that run these multibillion-dollar platforms.

You can probably tell that I am not, and have never been, a fan of Facebook, Instagram, X, Snapchat, Tik Tok or any other vehicle of illusion and delusion kicking around these days.

I find the hand-wringing debates, held in hindsight, about whether social media is doing more harm than good to be lamentable.

This week, I found myself openly crying while hosting my 6PR radio program when the grief-stricken father of a 19-year-old cancer victim explained how his son’s death was being exploited by social media criminals.

Levi Tracy had been dead less than two days when a fake social media account was set up to target donations from well-meaning people.

“They have copied and mimicked the original page we set up for people to follow our son’s journey,” Mark Tracy told me.

“They’ve entitled it donations only, which is not what the page was about, and they’ve reached out to people through our friends and family network asking for donations.”

Billions of people are now enslaved by the addictive, self-gratifying systems so cleverly structured by their manipulators-in-chief.Credit: Simon Letch

Even worse, when the Tracy family challenged the callous crooks, they demanded a $12,000 ransom to shut down the fraud.

The family’s initial attempts to get action from Facebook’s parent company Meta were rejected.

“We’ve got his funeral on Friday, and we’re trying to work through that,” Tracy told me.

I committed to help the family shut the sites down and with the assistance of former police officer-turned-online safety advocate Paul Litherland, the fake sites were closed within two days.

“As brutal as these stories are, and the emotions they bring out, this what I want to bring to the attention of our governments and organisations,” Litherland said.

“This is what we don’t see. This is the pain people go through because of these mongrels online and the ease of creating social media accounts.”

We discussed the fact that even when something so cruel, deceitful and criminal is unfolding on a fake account, there is no phone number or emergency method of getting Facebook to act.

The platform is faceless. The platform is uncaring.

I’m not naive enough to think all the evils and flaws of social media platforms can be resolved.

The horse has bolted and the millions of people so devoted to the sites ensure billions of dollars are made each year.

It would be helpful though, if more and more users considered whether they’ve allowed these platforms to get so big they have been unaccountable.

While many see social media as an opportunity to keep reminding real (or pretend) friends that they’re enjoying a cocktail on a tropical island or scoffing down a seafood linguine in a restaurant, I just wish they’d enjoy their time without feeling the need to post a boast.

That “look at me” moment is the bread and butter of giant tech companies that push for profits over the protection of people.

Entire government agencies and law enforcement units have had to be established because of all the new dangers enabled by social media platforms.

We now spend millions trying to educate children about the risks of something we continue to take a soft approach to.

It’s only in recent months state and federal governments decided age verification protection might be a good idea.

How much evidence about social media harm to young people do they need?

And only this year, a committee of the federal parliament was formed to consider the impacts of social media across communities and whether the companies behind the platforms need tougher regulation.

What is there to deliberate? Take a stick to them. A very big stick.

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