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Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

reuters.com

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Re: Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

#81

Post by netsharc »

wewewedxfgdf wrote: post #77

The Australian Prime Minister - Anthony Albanese - was once asked by a radio host what he would do if he was dictator - he said he would ban all social media. And lets note that the ALP government is very fast and snappy to ban social media, very slow to do important things like: - ban money laundering in real estate - ban gambling advertising And very quick to: - approve massive new coal mines - approve massive new…

Ah yes, because it's the teenage vote and social media voice they're very very worried about...

Re: Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

#82

Post by jordanb »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #74
ncruces wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a parent (who also btw uses Google products every single effin day) I just can't agree. This is entirely Google's issue to fix. Yes, YouTube has amazing educational content. I'd really like to make it available for my kids to see. YouTube, however, makes it completely impossible to permanently filter/hide/disable the bane that is YouTube Shorts. I don't let my kids on TikTok not because it's Chinese, but because i…

Yeah, no amount of effort allows me to shut off YouTube Shorts. Imagine you're the one running a business where you keep repeatedly trying to shove some feature down your user's throat. What's that called in business school? I don't know, I never took any Business courses. That I have no where else to go to see the content I want to see smells like a de-facto monopoly.

It's a form of bundling.

Re: Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

#83

Post by Gud »

azemetre wrote: post #69
general1726 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you can just log off to bypass it? That seems short sighted.

Not really. It means it's no longer profitable to advertise to teens on most corporate social media. Anything that moves the needle toward dismantling the advertising and marketing industries will always be a worthwhile endeavor.

Why would it no longer be profitable to advertise to teens on YouTube just because they can’t have accounts?

Re: Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

#84

Post by soulofmischief »

azemetre wrote: post #69
general1726 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you can just log off to bypass it? That seems short sighted.

Not really. It means it's no longer profitable to advertise to teens on most corporate social media. Anything that moves the needle toward dismantling the advertising and marketing industries will always be a worthwhile endeavor.

Anything? Including preventing teens from having an online life?

Re: Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

#86

Post by like_any_other »

If only there was some kind of parental control software available, there would be no need to further expand state surveillance and repression. Unfortunately, this is the only way, that the government only reluctantly resorted to, after much public outcry, and after having tried many other non-invasive, freedom- and privacy-respecting measures, that have all failed...

Re: Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

#87

Post by soulofmischief »

spicyusername wrote: post #12

Under, say, 10-12 or so, I can understand a blanket ban. In general, the YouTube content aimed at children is pretty vapid and encourages too many parents to use it as parenting auto-pilot. But so much YouTube content is educational or otherwise has significant utility for older children or adults. Seems like a pretty big misstep to outright ban it. And that doesn't even get to the thorny question of how this is supp…

Ridiculous. Would we have had a similar ban against flash video and game websites growing up if it were today? Against AOL Instant Messenger?

I already had a local net nanny software to contend with, if the government had also tried preventing me from participating in online culture, assuming I didn't kill myself because of a lack of escape from my abusive situation, I would 100% have ended up being an absolute menace to the government in defiance and retaliation.

I would have opened myself up to fraud charges creating accounts with private information from adults. And once I was over the wall of censorship, I'd only find adults and other criminally-minded children. I'd be on a conveyor belt to more serious crimes. Is that what we want the next generation of computer enthusiasts to grow up with?

Re: Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

#88

Post by Aurornis »

azemetre wrote: post #69
general1726 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you can just log off to bypass it? That seems short sighted.

Not really. It means it's no longer profitable to advertise to teens on most corporate social media. Anything that moves the needle toward dismantling the advertising and marketing industries will always be a worthwhile endeavor.

> It means it's no longer profitable to advertise to teens on most corporate social media.

Advertisements are targeted on a number of factors. It’s not a simple checkbox that says “market this to teens”

Re: Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

#89

Post by Aurornis »

angry_moose wrote: post #27
kelseyfrog wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can already access 3blue1brown[1] content without youtube. They just have to visit the site with the same name. 1. https://www.3blue1brown.com/#lessons

Those are just page after page of embedded YouTube videos. It's doubtful that's a meaningful difference under this bill.

The bill only bans them from having accounts.

It does not ban them from streaming embedded YouTube videos or even browsing YouTube.com

Re: Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

#90

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

hasperdi wrote: post #78
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thought was that a version of YouTube that: 1. Had no opaque algorithmic feeds 2. No comment sections 3. Have a "show me more content like this" button, but again, no auto algorithmic feeds 4. Filter out age inappropriate content. would be great for teenagers. I think the problem for YouTube is that it would be great for everyone else, too, so they'd get bombarded by "Hey, I want that version" requests, which woul…

This exists. It's called YouTube Kids

Yeah, but there is a gaping difference between content for kids (i.e. 12 and under) and content for teenagers.

Most teenage-appropriate content would be enjoyed by adults too (e.g. lots of how-tos, educational content, music, entertainment, etc.) Most adults are not going to be into watching Blues Clues or whatever, which is why YouTube doesn't have to worry about cannibalizing more profitable content/algorithms for adults due to the existence of YouTube Kids.

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