Australia is the first nation to ban social media for under-16s
globalvoices.org
On Wednesday, the lower house of the Australian parliament voted to pass legislation to ban social media for children under 16 years, and the Senate passed the bill on Friday.

Landmark legislation sees the Australian government committed to the novel step of child protection by banning social media for under sixteens.

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldEnglish
    56·
    10 hours ago

    I am so, so glad to see that at least one country in the world is willing to tackle this problem.

    Also a little depressed that every comment thread about this law boils down to: “It’s hard. Might as well not do it at all,” especially from people who (rightly) think we need to ban guns every time a school gets shot up here in the US, which would be monumentally difficult socially but 100% needs to happen.

    • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      Yeah I don’t really understand the pile on.

      Enforcement is not important in any way. If most kids are on social presently, then by making it illegal it just won’t be a place for kids to congregate any more. What would be the point of lying about your age to create a facebook account if none of your friends are there.

      Sure, some kids will still be on social, perhaps most kids will be, but there’s no doubt in my mind that their usage will diminish dramatically. That’s how public health works.