Australia's social media ban for under-16s: Can we fix digital media for everyone, not just kids

Fifth and final in a series

This is the fifth and last in a series discussing the Australian legislation banning people under 16 from using social media. The first post is here the second is here the third is here and the fourth is here

I’m writing from the perspective of a longstanding user of new media and also as someone with personal experience of dealing (not very successfully) with problems of under-16 screen addiction. On the other hand, I’m not a technical expert so I may get some details wrong. I’ll be happy to accept correction on these points

I want to start with the observation that the decision to ram through the social media ban in a few days at the end of 2024 came at the expense of, and as a distraction from, action on gambling advertising. A huge amount of research and policy analysis went in to the proposals on gambling, with clear demonstrations of the harms involved. But, faced with pushback from the media and sports industries, the government went for the shiny bauble of the media ban, where those directly affected were too young to vote, let alone make big donations. As I’ve already observed, there was no time to weigh the (complex) body of research evidence. Rather, the government and most of the supporters of the ban I’ve seen are relying on non-peer reviewed work by writers like Haidt and Twenge who have never done any relevant research.

Now on to some positive suggestions

Fixing digital media

The problem of online gambling is one illustration of the broader point that a focus on “social media” is problematic. Most obviously, it lets “traditional” media, much of now online, off the hook. Yet the use of addictive tactics to grab attention (of old as well as young people) and the exploitation of toxic emotions like rage, envy and insecurity is almost universal, even being emulated by “good” sites like the ABC and The Conversation, to some extent.

In my previous post, I made the point that most of the concerns about young people raised by supporters of the ban are better addressed directly with services that address specific needs rather than a one-size-fits-all ban. But there is plenty that needs to be done about online media.

First, we have allowed our government and society to become dependent on for-profit services operated by rightwing billionaires who use those same services to spread vicious lies. Emergency service warnings and public announcements of all kinds rely on sites like Facebook and X for dissemination. And they aren’t even very good. The “algorithms” used to promote messages mix vital public information with lies and propaganda

We need a public alternative playing the same role as did the ABC with respect to radio and TV. I’ll give a general idea of what I have in mind, though I’m sure others could do better. The starting point would be easy enough - a bulletin board on which notices could be posted, with special placement for urgent announcements. Users would get a feed with notices from the organisations they follow, ranked by urgency then recency. That could be expanded to cover all kinds of sporting clubs and societies (incorporated non-profit associations). The central point would be to reach a position where we, if necessary, we could tell platforms like FB or X to shut down (it will be interesting in this context to see what happens with US Tiktok.

The next step would be to end the algorithmic promotion of toxic material. The remedy here seems simple enough. If a network platform selects material to promote, its owners should be considered as the publishers of that material. To the extent that (as it seems will now be the case with Facebook in the US) the content violates laws against hate speech, defamation and so on, the platform could be prosecuted. It seems unlikely that the business models of Facebook and (if it is really a business rather than a propaganda outlet) X could survive such a change. But I hope that people who’ve been keen to support a ban for kids would show the spine necessary to give up using these platforms if the platforms are unwilling to reform themselves.

We also need some moral leadership here. On a very brief nose-holding dip into the cesspool that is X, I was pretty disappointed to discover that Adam Bandt’s is among the more active political accounts there. Whatever the short-run costs of losing an audience (and there’s evidence to show it’s not great), the Greens should set an example and dump Musk.

Finally, we need education, and not just for kids. We need to develop critical skills in understanding the way digital text, speech and image work, in the same way as we have previously done for TV and film, and before that for books and plays. In particular, we need to see how Internet content is used to target us with advertising. Even more, as shown by the ill-informed debate surrounding the U16 media ban, we all need a better understanding of the way the Internet works.

That’s it from me on this topic. Over to you.

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