Australia passes social media ban for under 16s

[Blue and true]

The Danish government is proposing a ban on several social media apps for under-15s, according to the country's prime minister.

"We have unleashed a monster," Mette Frederiksen told Denmark's parliament on Tuesday.


"Mobile phones and social media are stealing our children's childhood."

Research published by Denmark's wellbeing commission earlier this year found 94% of the country's young people had a social media profile before they turned 13 - despite that being the minimum age for many social media platforms.

It also found nine to 14-year-olds were spending an average of three hours a day on TikTok and YouTube.

People are most impressionable in adolescence. The idea that teenagers are spending three hours a day on TikTok is terrifying.

Good on the Danish. If I had my way I'd ban certain platforms full stop.

 

[KS55]

Admirable sentiments but the young will find ways round. The interweb thingy has taught them well.

 

[ballbag]

Admirable sentiments but the young will find ways round. The interweb thingy has taught them well.

I usually find that the vast majority of young ones know how to use stuff but don't have a clue how any of it works.

 

[BlueHammer85]

Well done Australia. Hopefully England to follow in the near future.
Yes many kids will find a way round it all, but if even 20% kids can avoid the sick harmful content on their feeds then we're in a better place.

Australia’s world-first social media ban begins as millions of children and teens lose access to accounts

Accounts held by users under 16 must be removed on apps that include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and Threads under ban

www.theguardian.com

 

[city2]

This is a brilliant idea hopefully it happens in this country and children can concentrate on the most important part of there lives.

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

At first it was all a bit of a fad, being able to get in touch with old friends, and being allowed to express an opinion from the comfort of our sofas. Then, overnight, you realised that many of those old friends were in the past for a reason and that the algorithms had now given you feeds that they wanted to give you, rather than what you wanted to see.

We, as the elders, were besotted by it, and never thought to think that our youngsters would do the same, having those same algorithms, and now AI, dictate what they see, good or bad.

My children don’t allow their children to surf the net, but it’s easy to see how the tech bro’s can influence our children’s minds, and they’ve taken full advantage.

Well done to the likes of Australia, and to us here in some ways. By all means, give people over a certain age the choice of what they see, but don’t just allow our youngsters to be pinned down by people who want nothing more to harm, influence, and monetise them from a young age.

 

[JASR]

Champagne corks popping in the Aussie offices of NordVPN, ProtonVPN etc as they celebrate 1000% uplift in downloads …

 

[BlueHammer85]

Still find it strange many seem to revel in the thought that kids will by pass this law and still get to go on social media and Tik Tok scrolling through clips of porn, abuse, peado beatings, suicide related clips and everything else that’s on the feeds nowadays for many children.
Australia needs as much encouragement as possible for at last waking up to this and the damage it does for youngsters and society.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Yes many kids will find a way round it all, but if even 20% kids can avoid the sick harmful content on their feeds then we're in a better place.

It's kind of irrelevant tbh, because unless everyone's on it, there's no value in it. Half of the fun is sharing stuff with your friends, but if only a handful of your geekiest friends are on there, then it kind of loses its appeal.