The methods detailed in the current effort to combat the problems users under the age of 16 in Australia face when on social media are ineffective at best and endangering at worst, these are my words regarding the subject broadly and the effort by the Australian government.
We all know how bad social media can be for everyone, we all know how negatively impacting it can be to rely on social media for more than scoffing down deep fried memes, we all know how effective Prohibition was, and how effective the now more than 50-year-old “War on Drugs” has been for the American public, if we were to take this sledgehammer approach seriously why don’t we just ban this kind of operation everywhere for all ages?
We should know that with Prohibition in America, elites exacted forms of power through their ability to distribute alcohol and become an influence on dis-proportionally effected folk such African-Americans, immigrants, and the poorer end of the white population, we should know the effects of alcohol and how it can tear families apart, we know simply taking away alcohol away and telling them they’ll recover in due time is practically ensuring outbursts from withdrawal, our history with alcohol dictates as such.
When we approach the problem of mainstream social medias effect on children, we need to approach it with understanding on its effects on all of us, with awareness of how haphazardly banning a specific demographic from using something resulted for other countries, how taking this approach to dealing with this results in more people going to unregulated platforms and that the whack-a-mole nature of this legislation is inherent to itself, we need legislation that deals in the infrastructure, not just the platforms and the content it hosts.
Cut to Roblox, they’re integrating their own age verification system by way of age inference and confidential photo IDs being passed in anticipation of being designated, they are one of if not the most popular social media platforms for those in the demographic set to be effected by this legislation, nothing of what has been laid out by the ban can be directly tied to the legislation as they have not been designated and can almost entirely be tied to the confusing language and misplaced effort put forward, Roblox is likely just putting all hands on deck, commissioning some systems (likely by a distant who-gives-a-fuck firm with bad security practices) and hoping for the best, this is not legislation manifesting a better environment, it’s haphazard, unnecessary confusion, pure and simple.
As per the research of Statistica, as of December 2024 the age range of Roblox’s user base set to be effected by this estimates an average of FIFTY SIX PERCENT, however errant its moderation may be and however problematic its operation may be at times, it’s a platform with many eyes on it, hoping to protect those that may be at danger however effective, legislation inadvertently pushing a forced exodus of a platform 56% inhabited by children to unregulated spaces is dangerous and needs to be repealed in favor of legislation and government grants focusing on development of parental control systems on major desktop environments like Windows/macOS/GNOME/Plasma and mobile platforms like Android/iOS, it is the only way we’ll be able to substantively deal with this.
Now, kids will try to get around this, that much is certain, which adds to why this will not work. I remember being 12, opening a Twitter account and a Google account to watch YouTube, typing in an age that made me look 14 as the minimum age requirements and rule of thumb for platforms was 13 back then and going by with ease, eager to see what everyone was getting up to, and for a while it met my expectations, everyone was on there, I made life long friends with people, some on Twitter who I was also connecting to with as their endeavors into content creation on YouTube started, it was awesome. It just didn’t register to me (and likely everyone else) how much shit we were was about to subject ourselves to, going through my early to mid to late teens, how through the on and off habits of checking in and inadvertently falling into a phase of some weird political beliefs were entirely avoidable if infrastructure and support systems was just more substantial and intentional, how despite that, thankfully, I was brought out and into a much more understanding progressive ideal with YouTube video essays of all things… and just personally leaving Twitter on my own accord by 2022 when I was the young, spry age of 24. It was a roller coaster, and I wasn’t checked properly before I went on, however I had fun, I didn’t get hurt and I got to be apart of something that I otherwise would’ve never been able to otherwise being in a rural town, being autistic and generally confused being my mid teens self, I could’ve and someone/thing should’ve been there to tell me to wait (or avoid cuz twitter sucks balls xddd) until I was old enough, but through the years of self-education I understood key responsibilities as I grew up on the internet, that isn’t enough but it should be understood when we’re talking about these things, we know more about this than anyone could {Insert Bane Meme Here}
This context doesn’t mean I’m not in favor of some kind of effort, no, nothing of the sort, what I’m trying to illustrate is when we’re met with an industry that has its drawbacks (such as the well discussed problem of bullying on and off platforms, manipulation for extended use as a result of platforms tuning of algorithms, on that regarding Facebook, having purportedly halted internal research after it found out leaving associated platforms was infact a major source of depression and anxiety relief) and its benefits (benefits such as anonymous outreach efforts for minorities, charity efforts in the form of The Trevor Project and instantly accessible support groups for sufferers of various conditions on platforms like Reddit) we should legislate as according to its benefits and its drawbacks, enable development of systems that minimize kids winding up on platforms of people drawing at threads of disengaged young people and alt-tech platforms that completely disengage with those efforts all together, educate people of all ages that the internet can be dangerous and encourage safe use, if it’s the boring structural potential of technology we’re being faced with, the most effective legislation will likely also be the most boring.
Regarding technological know how, more broadly with how many kids (but as we should all admit to ourselves, even adults) treat their operating systems like it’s this immovable thing you can only reset wholly when things break, legislation and grants enabling development of parental control systems will almost certainly improve the conditions the kinds of things the current form of the ban thinks it will fix, vaguely enforcing stuff like mass-scale age inference is going to result in a more exaggerated lower percentage of people unable to access basic mainstream platforms, 20-something baby faces anyone? It sounds like a joke but there’s probably a couple of specifically photogenic people old enough to drink alcohol that can’t access X or Reddit anymore, though by my own admission that might be for the best (god Reddit and X suck)
But that shouldn’t be anyones choice but their own. It will also endanger young people to the now bi-daily occurrence of data breaches (btw, hilarious irony that HIBP is Australia-based, shoutout to Troy Hunt, great resource)
This legislation will be disastrous and I hope to hell that this won’t result in some kind of Gen Z rush to One Nation, who probably agree with this legislation too as they’re basically the third aunt in a family in the form of a political party (and Barnaby Joyce, to my surprise…)