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Australia's social media ban has failed

reuters.com

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Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#91

Post by djc404 »

ShinyLeftPad wrote: post #51
Alien1Being wrote: post #43

Here in Australia, every parent I have spoken to is happy about the ban. The media is predictably unhappy since they lose eyeballs, advertising revenue and money. Previous approaches like expecting parents to educate children failed miserably. Most parents lacked at least one or more of motivation, time or knowledge.

> The media is predictably unhappy this is an article by reuters, they are not affected by the ban.

Haha. I clicked the link and they wouldn’t show me the article until I disabled my ad blocker.

Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#92

Post by intothemild »

dalemhurley wrote: post #84
intothemild wrote: post #12

I've said this to every single person who pushed for this. "Imagine you're a teenager, and your parents and government tell you to not do something... What will happen?" The answer is of course that they keep doing it anyhow. But hide it. As an Aussie, and a parent. What I wanted was that the government mandate that in order for your website or app to launch in Australia, that if you want to allow kids between certai…

You’re probably too young to remember when anti smoking laws were introduced to Australia. It took decades to change behaviours and attitudes. The cigarette industry did everything in their powers to undermine the laws. The social media giants are playing the same game.

I was running club and pub nights in Sydney when those laws came into effect. You're right, but one can argue given the current state of affairs things are now out of control.

Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#93

Post by defrost »

Skyy93 wrote: post #90
defrost wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As Australians we veer toward large unarmed crowds and telling 'em to get on with the job or get the f' out so we can re elect new ones. We have a hybrid UK / US "Washminister" system with mandatory voting, obligatory BBQ's, proportional voting and relative isolation. That isolation is now being punctured and we're seeing unpopular parties that tank whenever they're asked questions in public suddenly get a boost from…

Do you think we don't do the same in Germany? Might be a bit different system, but I would appreciate if you would not treat me as if I don't know anything about democracy. Voting and protesting might seem nice on paper, but people are stupid or kept stupid, for example crime rates are dropping for years but people feel unsafer because of higher media coverage. However, now we are talking about something different an…

> Do you think we don't do the same in Germany?

My apologies, I was unaware that Germany had a Washminister system with mandatory proportional voting.

> I would appreciate if you would not treat me as if I don't know anything about democracy.

My assumption was that the implementation of democracy varies by country. It was foolish of me not to know that you know everything about every democratic system on the planet and I apologise again for that.

> for example crime rates are dropping for years but people feel unsafer because of higher media coverage.

Well, some people do feel that here, for sure, although it hardly feels like a majority; is that a universal feeling in Germany, that Germans are stupid and easily led by media?

> For example, yeah social media can continue to exist but only a very simple algorithm can be used

The issue there is belling the cat - who are we, in Germany and Australia, to tell a US billionaire such as Musk or Zuckerberg what it is that they must do?

Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#94

Post by intothemild »

grebc wrote: post #63
intothemild wrote: post #12

I've said this to every single person who pushed for this. "Imagine you're a teenager, and your parents and government tell you to not do something... What will happen?" The answer is of course that they keep doing it anyhow. But hide it. As an Aussie, and a parent. What I wanted was that the government mandate that in order for your website or app to launch in Australia, that if you want to allow kids between certai…

They're providing for lowest common denominator. You already said you've got your own solution.

Yes. But there's holes in the solutions available. What's been interesting is watching a lot of these apps and sites try and add in some form or parental controls in an effort to try and dissuade other countries from doing the same.

What I'm asking for, is a mandated minimum set of controls. Which is far better than the sparse/spotty/nonexistent controls we have now.

Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#95

Post by Skyy93 »

defrost wrote: post #93
Skyy93 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think we don't do the same in Germany? Might be a bit different system, but I would appreciate if you would not treat me as if I don't know anything about democracy. Voting and protesting might seem nice on paper, but people are stupid or kept stupid, for example crime rates are dropping for years but people feel unsafer because of higher media coverage. However, now we are talking about something different an…

> Do you think we don't do the same in Germany? My apologies, I was unaware that Germany had a Washminister system with mandatory proportional voting. > I would appreciate if you would not treat me as if I don't know anything about democracy. My assumption was that the implementation of democracy varies by country. It was foolish of me not to know that you know everything about every democratic system on the planet a…

Do you read what I wrote?

>Might be a bit different system, but

I specifically said that we have different systems. However, the overall process does not differ so significantly that we would not be able to vote people out of power if we want to, which was your original point where you argued about systems.

>that Germans are stupid and easily led by media?

Not everyone, but enough are such that similar to the americans we start to vote for right-wing politicans which promise much, but will not solve the problems. From what I heard you Australians have the same issue with "One Nation".

>who are we, in Germany and Australia, to tell a US billionaire

For what are we having a goverment if they are not impose laws that are binding for companies? A US Billionaire can do whatever they want in a country as long as its legal. The EU recently ruled that Google has to pay 1 billion since they seem to favor their own apps and thus creating a monopoly. In the end Google will comply as the EU market is large enough.

Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#96

Post by sermah »

dalemhurley wrote: post #88
sermah wrote: post #45

Wow. Banning things actually doesn’t work and only makes everyone more secretive. What a surprise!

Did you ever hear of anti smoking laws? They took decades but have been extremely effective in Australia.

These ones help people to stop or avoid smoking. If you want to smoke, you still will.

As for social media, people don’t really want to stop or avoid using it

Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#97

Post by intothemild »

dalemhurley wrote: post #77
Alien1Being wrote: post #43

Here in Australia, every parent I have spoken to is happy about the ban. The media is predictably unhappy since they lose eyeballs, advertising revenue and money. Previous approaches like expecting parents to educate children failed miserably. Most parents lacked at least one or more of motivation, time or knowledge.

Exactly. This is a propaganda piece from the social media platforms

Except, the report they are quoting is from the Aus government tasked with this.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-07/Early...

Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#98

Post by grebc »

Skyy93 wrote: post #80
grebc wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like your point is tangential to this. We don't think parental education wholly stops underage drinking or smoking, hence we have laws against it.

And it also does not stop underage drinking or smoking, despite having the law. I understand why we have this law as it has a physical impact and literaly no upsides. However, smartphone usage and also the use of social media can have positive impact and is not inheritly damaging. Which is why I argue that a ban seems like the wrong direction.

>However, smartphone usage and also the use of social media can have positive impact and is not inheritly damaging. Which is why I argue that a ban seems like the wrong direction.

I'd be curious to see some literature on this. My understanding is A LOT of metrics/scores etc are tanking because of smartphone usage.

Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#99

Post by sermah »

croes wrote: post #49
sermah wrote: post #45

Wow. Banning things actually doesn’t work and only makes everyone more secretive. What a surprise!

So banning CFCs didn’t work? What about the FDA‘s bans on food ingredients? They don’t work, companies just become more secretive?

These things you can check and penalize companies for violations.

As I said in the sibling comment, I’m talking about people’s own will. You can’t say “Ban smoking” and expect that all smokers quit.

Re: Australia's social media ban has failed

#100

Post by intothemild »

croes wrote: post #49
sermah wrote: post #45

Wow. Banning things actually doesn’t work and only makes everyone more secretive. What a surprise!

So banning CFCs didn’t work? What about the FDA‘s bans on food ingredients? They don’t work, companies just become more secretive?

I'll take one of these two. CFCs.

The problem with your example, is that any government body can randomly test the products from a company, and test for compliance. The government can also measure the CFCs in the atmosphere and look for a decrease year over year.

Right now, the Aus government isn't fining the companies, hopefully they will.

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