greatly urging my american moots and followers to learn about the aussie under-16's social media ban. it is unconstitutional, vague and benefits absolutely no one who matters.
it's paraded as a way of protecting the youth from social media but remember, this would potentially put under-16s who are on social media in a dangerous place. say, if such a bill was passed and an under-16 finds themself on social media and does end up in a dangerous space, it could be used to silence them from predators with a potential reason being "you weren't supposed to be on social media in the first place". even without direct threats, australian youth might feel scared to come out regarding online predators because of this law and it will only harm people in the long run. edit to add: this is already the case for 13/14 year olds on the internet, but this ban could exacerbate this greatly.
this also is detrimental in the long run because when those who live their youth during the ban begin using social media, they will be more vulnerable to harmful online content and harassment. it's setting a generation of young adults up for failure.
as said earlier, it's potential to be unconstitutional should be noted. while freedom of expression is not explicitly protected in by the australian constitution, the implied freedom to political communication is. this means that, while the australian government does not explicitly protect the individuals, it restricts laws from impinging free speech and communication regarding the government and politics. this ban would, in its nature, restrict political conversations for under-16s by removing a platform for them to receive information. this would result in under-16s who have a limited knowledge of aussie politics, who have the right to vote in only two years, which, as said, sets up a generation of youths up for failure. and it's clear that children do have a place in politics, as evidenced by greta thunberg and the many others. however, the IFPC is not absolute, it is implied. there's much more to be said on this point specifically, so i'd recommend checking this article to learn more about how the social media ban is potentially unconstitutional.
more to add: this ban is also hugely vague and it's unclear how the government actually plans to implement this (passports? driver's license? other personal docs?) and there's nothing good that can come from a vague ban.
what the aussie government needs to focus on for aussie youth is online education. so many young australians do not receive adequate online education that is relevant to the social media they use. this is the case because social media is ever-evolving, and providing education that teachers the youth how to spot predators is difficult, but banning social media is a horrible way to target this.
americans, we've showed up for you during the time tiktok was banned, we're begging you, please pay attention to this ban, which is taking affect in december of this year.