'Your Say' forum looks at incoming social media laws for under 16s

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The ABC's 'Your Say - Digital Dilemma Forum' tonight will look at the incoming social media laws which are designed to protect under 16s.

Transcript

00:00There are so many questions, Roz. Is roadblocks included? Are a whole lot of other platforms,

00:08things like Twitch and Discord that you may not have heard of, but tens of millions of

00:12people around the world are on them. What sort of ID might you be asked to hand over?

00:18Maybe you or I, Roz, we're clearly older than 16, but one thing we could do is we could

00:24use our driver's licenses or our passports as one way of verifying our identity. That's not going to

00:30be the only way. Which platforms are included? What sort of ID will be used? And the other important

00:36question is this. If you or I, Roz, maybe set up a social media account on Instagram, we know things

00:42like Instagram and Facebook are going to be included. If we set up an account and then allowed

00:47someone under the age of 16 to use it, we don't get a fine and the under 16-year-old doesn't get a fine.

00:53There are $50 million fines for the social media companies, the digital companies themselves,

00:59but at what point is that triggered? At what point does the government or the regulators say,

01:04look, you are not doing enough, therefore you attract these massive fines? A lot of those

01:09questions aren't answered. It all comes in in early December. We are going to get some clarity between

01:14now and December about which platforms are in and which platforms are not, but there are tons of

01:19things that we don't know and we are doing something in Australia that has not been done

01:24anywhere else. So lots of open-ended questions. And head of tonight, Raf, you've been speaking to a

01:28lot of people who will be impacted by these changes. What are they telling you? I think there are a lot

01:34of people under the age of 16 who feel like they're either doing some really decent content creation,

01:38they might even be making money. They've found their people, whatever that means, they can't find their

01:44people in physical proximity. They can find them online. They engage with the world in a very real

01:50way through social media. They're going to be denied that. I think what I also get a lot on the radio

01:56through text and talkback, there are tons of parents around the country, and I think this is why both

02:01the government and the coalition support this, who just want something. They actually want to be able

02:06to say to their kids, this isn't good for you. If you're under 16, it's illegal for you to be on it.

02:12That's a tool in the toolbox for parents that the government wants to provide. So there's a whole

02:17lot of people with those concerns. And then there are privacy and security people who understand

02:22the technology and the nuts and bolts. And even though all of those nuts and bolts haven't been

02:27tightened yet, they are concerned if I am handing over a driver's license. If perhaps my name is

02:34attached to my face, I mean, this is as unique as a fingerprint. If those two things are linked,

02:39they're not supposed to be leaked anywhere. There is not supposed to be a data breach.

02:43But a lot of experts saying, well, hang on, what if there is a data breach? And what if that is then

02:47matched up with other things that are out there on the dark web? One of the questions I mentioned,

02:52whether or not Roblox is included, this game that Andrew was mentioning in that report before.

02:58One thing we've learned today, we've had a chat to the eSafety Commissioner.

03:01So that's the regulator, the people in charge in this space. Roblox will not be included

03:07in the social media ban. We learned that today. However, they're going to be subject to a whole

03:12lot of conditions that are very similar to the social media ban. Here's the eSafety Commissioner.

03:18We have come to an agreement where they will employ new safety measures, including making accounts

03:26for users aged under 16 private by default, and also introducing tools to prevent adult users from

03:32contacting under 16s without parental consent. They've gone a step further, and they will be

03:39also introducing facial age estimation.

03:42And the Your Say Digital Dilemma program will be heard right across ABC's local radio network,

03:49and viewers can watch it here on the ABC News channel. Raph, who will you be hearing from tonight?

03:54We're going to have a government representative. We're going to have some of those privacy and

03:58security experts. To be honest, one of the most valuable resources we're going to have on the

04:02panel is Ange Lavois-Pierre. She is the tech reporter for the ABC. She is who I turn to when I want to

04:08try to understand these issues. And just as importantly, we're going to have a studio audience.

04:14You're going to hear from a whole lot of young people, a whole lot of parents, a whole lot of

04:17teachers, and you'll be able to also dial in. So we're going to have some talkback radio listeners

04:22dialing in their questions to what is effectively a TV and a radio show, and you can follow it all on

04:27the news blog this evening as well. Good stuff, Raph. Thank you.

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