Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban • Hacker News Board

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#951

Post by indoordin0saur » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 3:58 PM UTC

oddrationale wrote: post #931

A lot of debate here is debating a social media ban. But what actually being banned is accounts, not access. Australian teens can still scroll TikTok, Instagram, and watch Twitch streams from logged out accounts. They just can't comment, like, or upload their own content. One might argue that this removes the algorithmic feeds. But I would wager that social media companies will just use browser fingerprinting to cont…

> browser fingerprinting to continue to serve algorithmic content to logged out users, if they aren't doing this already

This is going to be a poor substitute. New browser, updated browser, lost cookies, new phone, different device... Those all will reset your algorithm and the companies will have a hard time tracking down data they can associate with you.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#952

Post by beached_whale » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 4:38 PM UTC

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #896

beached_whale wrote: post #644

We really need the age verification standards to catch up. I think there was stuff in the works, but something like OAuth that doesn't require the two third parties to know about each other and the browser/client is in the middle.

The age check push isn’t about checking ages it’s about linking IRL identity to account.

Yes and no, it depends. But that the standards/services don't exist is more an issue as it prevents doing it correctly and safely. Most websites that will/already need to verify someones age are not capable of doing so safely.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#953

Post by strangattractor » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 4:41 PM UTC

lisbbb wrote: post #278

strangattractor wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meta == Phillip Morris - This is a public health issue and will likely need to be treated like tobacco. Kids can't vote so I don't see the political motivation.

I just can't get behind any of it, sorry. The puritanical moralizing feels so good until you cause a revolution or the species goes extinct.

Isn't treating it as a health issue the opposite of "puritanical moralizing"? No one suggested placing a Scarlet S around their necks.

It really isn't a bad thing for kids to be told they can't do something occasionally. It kind of helps prepare them for being an adult where it happens all the time.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#954

Post by grvdrm » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 4:48 PM UTC

ropable wrote: post #594

I fully support this legislation, and government regulation around this topic. Given the current (2025) state of the social media landscape, I believe that the positives of restricting access to them for teenagers well outweighs any potential harms. As the parent of a teenager affected by this ban (plus one who has aged past it): I wish that it had been in place 8-10 years ago, before either of my kids got smartphone…

Did you also find the intro negative for your own mental health in the sense that you had to bother thinking at all about it?

Feels like a huge component to me as a parent. What do I now need to know and do and react to, and how does my behavior affect the mental health of my kids.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#955

Post by carimura » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 4:49 PM UTC

rapind wrote: post #651

roenxi wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, yes but the other problem is this is putting authoritarians in charge of more stuff. I had a comment comparing this to allowing people to eat too much food and that is literally where the logical outcome of this sort of thinking goes - it happens in practice, that isn't some sort of theoretical risk. The more the government decides what people can and can't want to do the worse the potential gets when they make…

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.

Personally I'll take "kook" (or worse) as a trade off for safety and sanity of my children any day of the week.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#956

Post by j45 » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 4:56 PM UTC

zmmmmm wrote: post #405

A lot of the criticism is based on the concept that it won't be technically watertight. But the key is that it doesn't have to be watertight to work. Social media is all about network effects. Once most kids are on there, everyone has to be on there. If you knock the percentage down far enough, you break the network effect to the point where those who don't want to don't feel pressured to. If that is all it does, it'…

Some fair points to consider.

Consistency at school means more and more parents and families are practicing their internet exposure the same way as well.

How this is being done might not be the greatest, and it might change how social media is used, or invite the next thing after social media. Most platforms have dreamt of being a users core identity service as well and that might be it.

The multiple independent studies that show the effect on children developing brains from scrolling and screens alone, let alone the content (be it social media etc) is something worth offering an approach to as well, parents can't be expected to be DIY and self-educate against the types of software that are so optimized to achieve their independent objective of the software - keep us using them.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#957

Post by testing22321 » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:03 PM UTC

bigB wrote: post #862

manindahat wrote: post #712

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is an argument and worth monitoring, but IMO it's not a strong enough argument to stop this. This sort of ban is the same as existing laws banning the sale and consumption of alcohol or driving until kids are of age they will (on average) have sufficient maturity to handle the responsibility. Something we accept. Kids are not banned from digital communication. My daughter can still send text messages and make ph…

How long will it take them to ban communications ? A big reason they are pushing this is Cyberbullying....yet a recent death in the news this week, the kid was literally bullied/sextorted via SMS....not social media. Without banning SMS and possibly calls as well, it debunks this argument

> How long will it take them to ban communications?

Following your reasoning:

Alcohol is banned for children. How long until they ban all drinks?

Driving is banned for children. How long until they ban all self-directed transport?

Voting is banned for children. How long until they pan all political opinion?

No. Just no.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#958

Post by BlueTemplar » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:04 PM UTC

noosphr wrote: post #348

1121redblackgo wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually do think people directly see the negative public health impact, its so visceral in so many parents lives, and that that is the driving force behind all of this. I love being cynical, but I actually do buy these efforts as being purely "for the kids", kind of thing. Sure, there are knock-on effects, but I do buy the good faith-ness of phone bans in school and of these social media bans for kids.

Banning the printing press in Europe would have stopped the 30 years war. Somehow I don't think anyone here would approve of the long term consequences. The end result of this will be that everyone needs to give their real name and address to view social media. Anything you say or watch that the current government doesn't like will result in police coming for a chat.

That's a bad analogy, more like :

Printing Press The Internet

but

Social Media Some specific forms of (mostly centralized) publishing

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#959

Post by strangattractor » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:14 PM UTC

roguecoder wrote: post #490

strangattractor wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meta == Phillip Morris - This is a public health issue and will likely need to be treated like tobacco. Kids can't vote so I don't see the political motivation.

That makes me wonder, if only teenagers could vote would they ban adults from social media?

Social media is not good for adults either. Being able to choose your vices is one of the privileges we give to adults.

When I was 18 the legal drinking age had just been reduced to 18. That only lasted a couple of years. I don't think I'd vote for lowering it to that age again actually.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#960

Post by roguecoder » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:36 PM UTC

bamboozled wrote: post #410

gary_0 wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This worldwide push for online ID verification is absolutely not in good faith, and I'm shocked at how few people on "Hacker" News are seeing it for what it is. Imagine going on 1990's or 2000's Usenet and telling those folks they'd have to upload government ID to prove they weren't children and keep using the system. Virtually everyone would have shouted this Big Brother shit down until it was their dying breath.

America had all the access to free information and voted in an authoritarian anyway so what’s it matter ? I don’t care anymore about this emotive argument that you’re putting forward. The government knows everything about you because you pay for internet. Maybe you pretend to yourself you’re someone anonymous because you use a VPN but if they want to know who you are, they know. At least maybe this ban will stop some…

America has been subject to a thirty-year propaganda war by foreign actors.

Information in America is free as in speech, not free as in beer: money talks louder than truth. That has let billionaires unravel the stabilizing features adopted after the Great Depression that kept capitalism limping along for an extra century.