‘These platforms are not dumb pipes, they are actually curators of content’: Australian government takes aim at Meta
The Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, has declared that “every parent” is concerned about the outsized role social media is playing in the lives of Australian children, reinforcing her views that an age limit is necessary.
Speaking to Sky News, Rowland said that, “while social media has been a force for useful connections for many people, including young people, we’re into our second generation of digital natives.
“Now, the vectors for harm have never been more exemplified, have never been better understood and continue to be better understood as each day goes by. We had always had this view that the internet is not an ungoverned space. There’s always been some laws that have attached to it – but we have decided as a government that we will review and update our laws.”
Age limit is necessary these days as pornography becomes more and more normalised and allowed in social media spaces that do not have protections in place and perpetuate the child porn epidemic. The internet doesn’t need people to exploit women and children if they are doing it to themselves on social media for the dopamine hit and external validation that kids crave more and more as their parents work harder and longer hours.
It’s a big problem but nobody wants to talk about it.