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Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

france24.com

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Re: Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

#41
post #22

The teeth have to apply to the social media companies. Fines for under-16 users.

Such a thing would require mandatory age verification of every user of the platform, which is obviously a significant privacy complication.

> Such a thing would require mandatory age verification of every user of the platform

Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it would be entirely between the social media companies and their users. No blanket requirements across devices or the internet.

I’d add a provision that creates even steeper fines and private liability for retaining any ID, etc. collected to verify age.

Re: Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

#42
post #22

The teeth have to apply to the social media companies. Fines for under-16 users.

Such a thing would require mandatory age verification of every user of the platform, which is obviously a significant privacy complication.

> which is obviously a significant privacy complication.

I'm sure the companies will default to the darkest of dark patterns, and the most privacy violating mechanism possible, but the law doesn't have to be written to require this, and can be written to forbid it.

Same, on both counts, as the cookie popups. Consent not actually required for things necessary for the functionality of the system, and the popups themselves are often not compatible with the law as written.

Age verification can be done in a way that preserves privacy. The websites must be required to do so, and fined if they try to weasel out of privacy preservation.

Remember that these sites spent years insisting people use their "real name" and if they thought you weren't doing so they wanted users to show a government ID. These sites want people using real photos as their profile picture. These sites want to know where you live, where you work, and of course who your friends are.

Re: Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

#43
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think parents have a say in it? Kids find a way. Kids just don't understand the effects that it has on them

As the father of two children who grew up with the Internet, which I restricted for them, and grandfather of five, one of which is 13, I would say yes, parents always have the ultimate say in it. A child shouldn't even have a smartphone IMO.

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Re: Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

#44
While keeping kids away from social media makes sense, legislative ban leads straight to implementing invasive biometric verification for everyone.

Is there a chance to make the dopamine fueling scrolling only a phase, just like e.g. messaging over ICQ is a thing of the past? I mean seriously, people who remember birth of these media are getting old and unattractive, newcomer influencers are thoroughbred professionals, and AI slop is taking over the content.

Re: Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

#45
post #38
post #4

Misleading title. Usage dropped after the ban and has risen slightly since the initial drop. The article does very little besides report this. It speculates that it might be due to vpn or the ban not working. It doesn't even go into how the ban works or and basic journalistic follow up questions. Does anyone have a better source or info why it's not effective

Source: Australian, with teenager. 1. It's not a ban on using social media, it's a requirement for age verification to create an account. This only limits usage on the few platforms that force an account to do anything. 2. The technical controls platforms implement are, unsurprisingly, generally quite weak. Kids are crafty enough to circumvent them, and share how freely. 3. Wannabe-influencer parents just create acco…

It's impossible to keep kids out if there is a non small amount of parents sucking their kids into social media.

Re: Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

#46

Who would have thought banning something would make it attractive to kids. Radical.

Exactly. During Prohibition, did alcohol consumption decrease, including of course, illegal alcohol consumption? Then…

I also wonder how many Australian teens are using less regulated and lesser-known social networks

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