Landmark legislation sees the Australian government committed to the novel step of child protection by banning social media for under sixteens.
Landmark legislation sees the Australian government committed to the novel step of child protection by banning social media for under sixteens.
Well, I know how that would go if I were a globe-spanning social media giant. Given that the entirety of the Australian market is roughly the size of New York state (~26 vs ~20 million people), I would say, “Nah mate, we just won’t do business in Oz anymore. Bye.”
Vanishingly few business make a “New York only” version of their product because it’s simply not worth it. Australia already suffers under this problem for a great deal of physical products. Ask any computer nerd about that, when trying to source parts and often video game titles as well. Shipping things to the Antipodes and/or dealing with Antipodean regulations is expensive, for an objectively low number of potential sales.
It would not surprise me to learn if it follows that Australia generates roughly 1.7% of the revenue for Facebook or whoever as, say, India. So in other words, bupkis.
Platforms love to use this threat… “if you regulate us we’ll just withdraw services in your jurisdiction”. They never do, and governments shouldn’t respond to threats like that in any case. If one or other platform were to restrict services in Aus, it would just increase the potential revenue for some other platform.
Pornhub pulled out of 17 states. You need to buy a hustler magazine now. Australia will just have to buy National Enquirer magazines instead of doom scrolling for their fix.
Sure, but on the flip side I’m fine either way. Watching either a megacorporation or an out of touch nanny-state government get fucked is just about equivalent in my books. We could use a lot more of both, and I don’t even live in Australia.
Meta, for instance, wants to cease operations anywhere on the planet? Insert Willy Wonka meme here: No, stop, don’t… Bye…