One of Australia’s leading children’s online safety experts says the teen social media ban may backfire by putting more young Australians at risk and by letting tech companies off the hook.
With the federal government poised to introduce a law this week that would ban Australians under the age of 16 from social media, opposition to the policy has continued to ring the alarm about what it might entail.
Mental health and children’s groups have signalled their issues with the ban, and now a group of 140 Australian and international experts have signed an open letter raising serious concerns, including a lack of evidence supporting its benefits.
Professor Amanda Third, a signatory to the letter and a co-director of the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University, said she’s worried young Australians will end up being harmed as an unintended consequence of the ban.
Third said she believes a ban is unenforceable and that young Australians will sidestep it by using technologies like virtual private network software to access social media. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, too, has acknowledged that some will get around the ban.
If that’s the case, Third said, then young Australians will end up using social media platforms that are no longer designed with their safety in mind. “At the moment, we hold platforms to account for anyone over the age of 13, and whilst we might argue that the platforms are not doing a good enough job … there’s a lot in place that’s headed in the right direction and just needs strengthening,” she said.
Third is also concerned about what happens when young Australians using social media end up facing the very real problems that exist on the platform, including scams, sextortion, cyberbullying and other threats.
“At that point, when they get into trouble, they will be unable to reach out for help because they’re not supposed to be in those spaces, right?” Nor will they develop a digital literacy from using these services in more limited environments before they turn 16, she said.
Third, who is a member of the government’s eSafety commissioner’s online safety advisory board, warned that the potential harm and lost opportunities of a teen social media ban may hit some harder than others.
As shown in research published by the eSafety commissioner, groups like LGBTQIA+ young, young people with disabilities, young men and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth are among those who show benefits from online encounters.
Third adds that groups like socio-disadvantaged young Australians and those with mental health issues also gain a lot from social media.
“For some of these young people, they are also the groups of young people who are most at risk of suicidal ideation and attempts on their own life. And social media in that circumstance is not just important, it’s a lifeline,” she said.
Correction: This article originally identified Professor Third as the organiser of the open letter, the story has been amended to reflect that she is a signatory.
