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1 month ago
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ARTICLE AD BOX
Summary
Australia expects to protect children with its social media ban that Meta has begun to comply with, but the internet rarely bends to rules. Social media is addictive—and that’s one reason under-16s may seek workarounds, potentially leaving us clueless of the ban’s efficacy.
A week before Australia’s social media ban for under-16s kicks in, Meta has started pushing underage Australians off its Instagram, Facebook and Threads platforms.
The ban, which comes into effect on 10 December, is aimed at shielding children from harmful content. Social media being what it is, the rest of the world is watching what many consider a doomed experiment.
Age-faking has been a common practice for the underage to gain access to platforms and many under-16s are aware of VPN and other hacks to get around digital walls. Social media is quite addictive; in such cases, the force of demand could overwhelm official efforts to contain it.
Perhaps a better way is to stop the underage from exposure in the first place, but that could be just as difficult.
Malaysia, New Zealand and other countries keen on similar bans could wait to see how Australia’s attempt pans out. But if it pushes under-16 social media use off the radar, or worse, into access portals hosted by the “dark web,” it’ll be hard to tell if it’s working or worsening risks.
In general, policing the internet has been compared to nailing jelly to a wall. The addictiveness of this stuff only makes the task of protecting children harder.
English (US) ·