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‘Enforcement mode’: Australia must take fight to tech giants to make social media ban stick, experts warn

From The Guardian · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Australian experts urge the government to actively enforce its social media ban on minors, warning that current measures are insufficient.
  • The government plans to double fines for non-compliant platforms and enhance the eSafety commissioner's powers, but critics argue for stronger regulatory action.
  • Experts advocate for digital duty of care legislation to hold platforms accountable for user safety and algorithmic transparency, rather than simply banning young users.

Australian experts are calling for a more aggressive approach to enforcing the government's social media ban for minors, warning that current measures are failing to keep children offline. Despite the government's announcement of doubled fines for platforms and increased powers for the eSafety commissioner, concerns remain that these actions are not enough.

It is still early days yet not much has changed for under-16s with about 80% still stating they remain on social media.

— Catherine Page JefferyA senior lecturer in media and communications at the University of Sydney, commenting on the effectiveness of the social media ban.

"It is still early days yet not much has changed for under-16s with about 80% still stating they remain on social media," said Catherine Page Jeffery, a senior lecturer in media and communications at the University of Sydney. She stressed the need for "stronger enforcement mechanisms" and questioned the effectiveness of doubling penalties if the regulator does not actively pursue them.

Stronger enforcement mechanisms are clearly needed, but there’s no point in doubling the penalty if the regulator doesn’t enforce them, and move into the enforcement mode.

— Catherine Page JefferyExpressing concern about the government's approach to enforcing the social media ban.

Page Jeffery advocates for digital duty of care legislation, arguing it would better protect all users by placing an obligation on platforms to proactively ensure safety. This approach, she suggests, would also bring greater transparency around algorithms. The Greens party echoed this sentiment, criticizing the government for focusing on symptoms rather than causes and urging a focus on regulating algorithms.

This digital duty of care is really vital, and I think this would be much better policy rather than excluding younger people, because then it places this obligation on the platforms to be more proactive about making sure their platforms are safe, and that will include more transparency around algorithms.

— Catherine Page JefferyAdvocating for digital duty of care legislation as a superior policy to age-based bans.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers acknowledged that tech companies have not done enough, stating, "We will strengthen the penalties. We will strengthen the powers of the eSafety commissioner, and that's because we recognise that the future of our kids, the safety of our kids, is too important to let the big tech companies wriggle off the hook or avoid their responsibilities." However, the shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, dismissed the new penalties as an "admission of failure" by the government.

When this [social media ban] legislation was debated, the Greens argued that we needed to regulate the algorithms, not just the symptoms. The two major parties chose not to.

— Sarah Hanson-YoungA Greens senator criticizing the government's focus on symptoms rather than algorithms.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Guardian. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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