Premiers join forces to protect our young from social media

The two premiers have united to stage a summit in October looking at tighter and higher age restrictions for social media use, including penalties for digital publishers failing to comply.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, left, and his NSW counterpart Chris Minns at Bondi Beach in Sydney’s east in 2023. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The escalated domestic terror threat and the false claims driving race riots in Britain show why ­social media companies must be reined in to protect the young from radicalisation and misinformation, the South Australian Premier has declared amid the growing push to impose greater control on digital publishers.

Peter Malinauskas has joined forces with NSW Premier Chris Minns to stage a summit in October to debate tighter and higher age restrictions for social media use, including penalties for digital publishers that fail to comply.

The first iteration of the SA plan would impose a blanket ban on all children under the age of 14 having access to a social media account, and require parental consent for children aged 14 and 15.

The SA government has enlisted former High Court chief justice Robert French to advise on how these and potentially other restrictions could be constitutionally sound and consistent with free speech principles.

Mr Malinauskas told The Weekend Australia the events of the past week had underscored the urgency amid mounting evidence that young people were being drawn to extreme and fallacious content that often advocated violence.

The Premier held two key meetings this week, one with Mr French about his proposals and the other with SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens about the ASIO terror warning, and has also spoken to other premiers who share his concerns about the role of social media ­platforms in radicalising and misleading young people.

“In meeting with the commissioner it is absolutely clear in every respect that the terror threat level has gone up on concerns about radicalisation which has been exacerbated by social media,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“We know that social media is a dangerous source of disinformation. That’s now starting to manifest itself in really concerning consequences. The terror threat going up in Australia and the events in the UK during the course of this week were exclusively the result of information on social media platforms. That at the very least serves as a powerful reason to protect young people from this.”

The Weekend Australian understands that since meeting Mr French this week, the SA government is even more confident that the states will be able to craft laws that are constitutional.

Mr French is providing his advice to the SA and NSW governments on a pro bono basis, as he did to the former Morrison government on proposed religious freedom laws.

“I understand the complexities around how governments regulate disinformation,” Mr Malinauskas said. “But when it comes to young people, there is a clear case that we have an obligation to protect them from harm.”

The Premier also questioned the conduct of X owner Elon Musk who this week was found to have written multiple false tweets, and others that had fuelled racial tensions in Britain amid fabricated posts blaming Islamists for the knife attack that killed three children in Southport.

The British non-profit organisation Centre for Countering Digital Hate found Mr Musk had claimed falsely that the Democrats were shipping in illegal immigrants over the Mexican border to boost their vote, even though as non-citizens none would be eligible, and had fanned the riots in Britain by declaring a UK “civil war was inevitable”.

“People who own major public companies that trade in the sharing of information have as much responsibility as politicians to ensure there is a discourse that’s in the interests of society as a whole and that the type of language that is used is not inflammatory or misleading,” Mr Malinauskas said. “I would have thought that’s an obvious test, one that I think Mr Musk should contemplate.”

The SA government will receive the French report by the end of September and the joint summit with the Minns government will be held over two days in both Sydney and Adelaide in October.

“We are hopeful that the report provides the platform for the State Government to act in a timely way,” Mr Malinauskas said.