One purpose of laws us that they clearly state: this is good and this is bad. Many such barriers are cultural, but sometimes they do not work or are actively attacked, so they may be backed with a law.
Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
751–760 of 1001 posts
Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
#752Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Every time something new happens in the world, my younger kids ask me about what they saw on Tik-Tok and their initial understanding is shaped by a well funded actor, and is often completely a false narrative. As someone who remembers the near lack of anti-war voices on network/cable news in the lead-up to the Iraq War (Donahue on MSNBC being the lone example), I'd like to get more details on your strongest example…
There wasn’t much but the mostly fabricated WMD narrative was questioned a lot. Now the current administration makes an endless stream of fantasies and lies which go almost entirely unchallenged.
> There wasn’t much but the mostly fabricated WMD narrative was questioned a lot.
Cable and network news did not question that narrative, aside from the exception I mentioned. Read David Barstow's Pulitzer-winning stories in NYT-- cable news shows even had retired generals pushing for war without disclosing all kinds of conflicts of interest.
Edit: I should add that in reality there were protests with record numbers of people during the buildup to the Iraq War, and there were many articulate arguments against the war by all kinds of people. However, that was not the narrative presented in Network/Cable News.
Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
#753Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think we should normalise children on platforms where the content contains political agitation, sexual and violent content, crypto and fintech scams, etc. Especially when this content is packaged up to them and commodified. These platforms make more money than the ATO (Australian Tax Office) brings in a year. I think they have the moral obligation and means to create safer spaces- either inside or seperate fr…
> I don't think we should normalise children on platforms where the content contains political agitation Why not? Why won't you give political agency to young adults? I'm saying this as a kid who grew up in Romania, just after Ceausescu had been executed, so throughout the '90s, I do very well remember all the political news and commentary coming my way (I was a teen), but I can't say that it bothered, not at all, it…
Oh hey it's my favorite Romanian stupidpol poster. Didn't think I would run into you here.
Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
#754Did they publish a list of what they consider social media sites? If you are 15 and active on GitHub is this now considered against the law?
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch and Kick.
GitHub is not included, nor is Discord.
Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
#755Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some of us don’t mind government regulation as much as your parents told you not to like it. I just say this because it’s usually those types of parents that instill this kind of stuff and their children not to trust the government but some of us actually do. We are pretty happy with the way things are. It’s not naïve either. It’s seriously a problem when people talk like the government is meant to be not trusted.
>Some of us don’t mind government regulation as much as your parents told you not to like it I wasn't told to hate government regulations. 30 years of horrible, ineffective regulation taught me to hate these poorly thought out regulatoins. I grew up under No Child Left Behind. I saw the TSA form before my very eyes. I'm right now seeing ICE roam free, regulations be damned. I don't hate the idea of regulation. I don'…
US seems the only western nation with high trust issue with its own government.
Aussie, Canada, much of the Europe have no issue.
Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
#756Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
#757Earlier quoted context omitted.
The attempt is to remove the market do exploiting the attention of children for profit. This doesn’t have to be perfect to be worth it. What’s more, the idea that this puts children at the mercy of authoritarians is laughable. The US tech industry has shown us beyond doubt that they are perfectly ok with genuine authoritarians in charge, provided the dollars keep rolling. Fuck them, and good on ya Australia.
What about future governments in Australia? This is ripe for abuse and scope creep. It also ties a uniform ID to an account, simplifying tracking and surveillance by corporations and governments. Plus, this is asking everyone in the country to give up their biometrics (face scanning is one implementation) or link your government issued ID to your social media account (look at the UK to see how this turned out - peopl…
"...simplifying tracking and surveillance by corporations and governments."
Decades ago when the Australia Card—an ID system for Australians—was first proposed there was an almighty outcry from the citizenry and the project was seemingly shelved. What's happened since is that our Governments quietly ramped up their computer systems and collected the data anyway, this Law will only enhance that collection further. Moreover, recently Government introduced what at the moment are voluntary digital IDs which it sold under the guise that having a single ID will make it easier to deal with government services, etc. Unfortunately, most will unquestioningly swallow the official line and miss the fine minutiae.
I've never heard any politician or Government official come out and say "We'll never introduce an Australia Card because we're free people" or such and I'd bet that I never will. Fact is, we Australians already have had an 'Australia Card' for years, it's just that we don't carry it around in our wallets as we do with our credit cards.
Our democracy would be vastly improved if those whose governance we're under would actually tell us the truth.
Edit: Despite my comment about this new law, I agree kids need protection—so we're damned either way. I see no easy solution.
Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
#758It’s worth calling this by its other name: the taking away of anonymity and pseudonymity. To date, proving you are old enough is almost always (over-)implemented by having to reveal your legal identity and the exact date you were born. If the whole world goes down the route of AV / age-bans then I hope we at least get some kind of escrow service where you visit an official office, prove your age to a disinterested pu…
We already have digital IDs in Australia, and it seems like a natural fit for this. The digital ID doesn't need to share much information with social media companies, it just needs to confirm your age. And then we don't need new 3rd-parties holding our personal information.
Also yes, voting is mandatory in Australia. You get a small fine if you don't vote.
Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
#759Earlier quoted context omitted.
These are government regulations regarding kids. Nothing new here, we’ve been regulating what you can market to kids for decades. I’m not buying a slippery slope argument. As a parent myself, it definitely helps when you can collectively avoid having your kids on these platforms. I can’t express how much easier it is to restrict it and not seem like a kook when authorities are also on board.
The government isn't helping you, they just pushed every child in Australia to un-moderated and decentralised social networks. Complete free for alls. 4chan, Mastedon, BlueSky, PeerTube, Pixelfed They have millions of users. They're about to get more. No, you can't block these. No, you can't order these to do anything.
As others have mentioned it's the critical mass and the algorithmically-addicting dopamine treadmills that are the problem this law seeks to address.
Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban
#760Earlier quoted context omitted.
Authoritarians use social networks to undermine democratic principles so not exposing kids to that takes power away from them. Or did I misunderstand something?
My take for a while has been that authoritarian ideas (both hard right and hard left) dominate on social media because of the short form short attention span format. Authoritarianism tends to run on simple slogans, grievances, and identity politics. That stuff is very well suited to 140 characters, memes, and short videos. Liberal ideas require more explaining and historical context, and they don’t play well when eve…
My take for a while has been that authoritarian ideas
That's odd because I don't see a lot of that. Care to elaborate?