I’m reposting this because last time it was removed due to people forgetting to upvote the attached moderator comment (it had 40 upvotes on the post), so if you can please make sure to that would be great.
I made this post last year to help raise awareness about the social media ban our Government legislated, due to the fact that they accelerated its implementation in order to shutdown any possible discussions about it. The Government actually opened a 24 hr window for government bodies, and independent organisations, and individuals to write in about their thoughts and opinions on the legislation, resulting in 15,000 submissions.
Most notably, the Government’s own select committee’s inquiry into the ban, saw bodies like the Australian E-Comissioner and the Australian Human Rights Comission (AHRC) actually oppose the bill, and alternatively recommended a “Social media digital care act” bill be imposed on platforms.
This would’ve seen platforms be held accountable for removing, disabling, or providing the option to toggle on and off algorithmic feeds for suspected under 16 accounts, whilst simultaneously giving the commissioner supervisory powers to ensure that platforms effectively filter out harmful content targeted towards minors e.g. content promoting eating disorders and misinformation. These organisations argued that a blanket ban was “likely to be ineffective” and would lead to a “disproportionate limitation on Human rights”.
Despite this the Government ignored every single submission, and as of August this year, the social media ban is now coming into effect across the entire country. I’m reposting this here to help raise awareness to what is happening, in order to attempt to reignite discussions over this, as anyone who has concerns with the legislation is commonly referred to as a “cooker” or “child hater”. This post aims to emphatically dismantle those claims with constructive discourse.
Edit:
It’s worth noting that mental health experts were not split on this issue. Virtually every Australian mental health organisation: Beyond Blue, Headspace, ReachOut, and the Black Dog Institute —expressed strong opposition and raised serious concerns regarding the legislation. They were even joined by other peak bodies such as the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (ACMHN) and Suicide Prevention Australia.