Protect the young from big tech

The relentless harm to children and younger teenagers caused by the dark side of social media is being increasingly well understood by parents, teachers and in some cases young people themselves. As we reported earlier in the year, US social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has made a strong case in his book The Anxious Generation why the “rewiring of childhood” through social media has been a huge blunder, detrimental to children’s and teenagers’ mental health and wellbeing. Our young people deserve to be liberated and protected from around-the-clock bullying, doxxing, body shaming and deepfake pornography that has tormented too many of them for too long, sometimes with tragic consequences.

For that reason we applaud the Albanese government’s world-leading legislation to enforce a minimum age of 16 for social media. It is being supported by the opposition, as it should be. Some youngsters will find workarounds, Anthony Albanese acknowledges. “But we’re sending a message to social media companies to clean up their act,” the Prime Minister said. That message is the only kind the big tech titans understand – fines of up to $49.5m for systemic online safety breaches. The onus will be on social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s holding accounts on platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and X, among others. Social media is taking kids “away from real friends and real experiences”, as Mr Albanese said earlier in the year. YouTube has been exempted from the ban, along with messaging apps and games. As University of NSW Scientia professor of artificial intelligence Toby Walsh wrote in these pages on Monday, young people can still have a private WhatsApp group of friends or access age-appropriate content about drugs or alcohol on YouTube Kids.

School principals are backing the legislation for good reason. The use of social media sites by primary school students was a constant concern for school principals and teachers, with bullying prevalent, Australian Government Primary Principals Association president Pat Murphy said earlier this month. Social media was influencing their self-esteem, relationships and con­centration in the classroom, and many students were not mature enough to deal with the pressures.

The ban on mobile phone use at school has been transformational, teachers agree, with fewer distractions and more playing and interaction. But as federal Education Minister Jason Clare says: “When school finishes, students get their phone back and they’re back in the social media cesspit.” They deserve better.