Australia Has Fallen (Part Deux)

Australia' broadstroke social media ban for people under 16 that was passed last year is set to fully go into effect just days from now on December 10th.  That makes Australia the strictest country in the world in that regard (though a few other countries are moving towards something similar).  And Big Tech said they will comply with it.  Much like how Big Tobacco and Big Vape ultimately cynically supported the 21 smoking/vaping age here.

We at Twenty-One Debunked have already discussed why we oppose such a ban:  it is overbroad, throws the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, the mandatory age verification would create a privacy and cybersecurity nightmare for all ages, violates free speech, and last but not least, blatantly violates youth rights.  And on balance, we believe it does far more harm than good.

Yes, we are well aware that social media does have a dark side, for all ages, and that it needs much better guardrails.  But this age ban is both over- and under-inclusive, and thus utterly fails to accomplish the stated objectives.  Rather, we believe that (as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) advocates), comprehensive data privacy legislation for all ages, that would ban the practice of surveillance advertising, would be a far better idea to do before anything else.  Then improve the safety features/defaults of these platforms, and if we still want something more age-specific, perhaps have something like New York's SAFE For Kids Act and the New York Child Data Protection Act.  In fact, New York even has a bill that has yet to become law, the SAFE For All Act, which would go a LONG way to making these platforms much safer and less addictive for all ages, and we fully support that 100%.

(The SAFE For Kids Act does have some flavor of age verification, but it narrowly targets only two very specific features of social media platforms:  1) Personalized algorithmic feeds (aka "addictive feeds"), and 2) Late night notifications (12 am to 6 am).  These relatively useless and harmful features are disabled by default, and only to enable them would one need to verify age.)

But an Australian-style age ban?  HELL NO!  The same also goes for the creeping censorship of the UK currently (and soon eventually Australia as well, with the way things are going now).

And Big Tech can go EFF off!

(Mic drop)

UPDATE:  Amnesty International opposes the Australian social media age ban as well.  They have consistently been on the right side of history.  And the EFF also wrote another great article too, about the hidden dangers of mandatory age verification online.

And now over to you, Brazil.  It is the height of chutzpah and hubris for President Lula to implement mandatory age verification for social media in his country, especially given how it was 16 and 17 year voters who made his election win possible (the voting age is 16 in Brazil).  And they even have the GALL to package it all in patronizing and paternalistic Orwellian "children's rights" language.  Natch.  The next domino to fall.