Labor's screen test
The Albanese government wants a sweeping ban on kids using social media. But it faces difficulties in overcoming the complexities of such regulation, as it has with other recent reforms.
Ever since a 16-year-old took 30 minutes to bypass John Howard’s $84 million internet filter in 2007, government attempts to regulate the online world have largely fallen flat.
Announcing plans to ban children from using social media, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claimed he can buck that trend. But his government has already shown a tendency to pursue sweeping, popular reforms only to become bogged down in complexity.
“We want [kids] to have real experiences with real people, because we know that social media is causing social harm,” Albanese told the ABC this morning.
Given the mounting evidence of social media’s toxic impact on young people, few would disagree with that sentiment.
