The Problems With Australia's Social Media Ban

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00:00What would happen if we banned teenagers from social media?

00:03We're about to find out, and it looks like a self-defeating mess.

00:06Today is officially Deactivation Day in Australia.

00:09Hundreds of thousands of kids under the age of 16

00:11are being locked out of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, and more.

00:16Australia says the law is the first of its kind in the world

00:19and will help other countries decide how to regulate social media.

00:23But that assumes this is even possible.

00:25In Australia, three quarters of 9 to 15 year olds said they had no plans to stop using social media once the ban kicks in.

00:32Only 6% think the ban will even work.

00:35Videos of workarounds have been going viral,

00:37and teens are encouraging each other to congregate on more obscure apps.

00:41What could go wrong when swarms of underage users flock to even less regulated corners of the internet?

00:46I've been a skeptic of the ban from day one.

00:49Age limits simply won't save kids from online harm,

00:52and might even suppress the next Troye Sivan.

00:54The American Psychological Association agrees with me.

00:57In a report last year, it implored social media companies to do more to protect youth,

01:02but said age limits aren't the solution.

01:04They ignore individual differences in maturity levels,

01:07could cut teens off from the bright spots of online connection,

01:10and most importantly, they don't address the underlying problems.

01:14Australia's ban also has some questionable loopholes.

01:17Kids can still watch YouTube anonymously without the guardrails that come with teen accounts,

01:22and the number two youth digital platform, Roblox,

01:25is exempt because it frames online socializing as gaming.

01:29Despite these problems, Australians overwhelmingly support the new legislation.

01:33And now that it's here, I'm rooting for it.

01:35The policy is messy, incomplete, and porous.

01:38But at least Australia is trying.

01:41That's more than can be said for the U.S.,

01:43which hasn't passed comprehensive online child safety legislation in decades.

01:48What's become overwhelmingly clear is that the status quo is untenable.

01:53We don't need another devastated parent describing a child lost to mental health struggles.

01:59So let's try it so far.

02:00We're going to look for it.

02:02But the reality is that the government has lived for need in other the people's jobs.

02:06And that's going to be claimed in October.

02:08So I hope everyone's in the next order,

02:10that everyone knows the 1st .

02:14So I'm a very devastated self-s Jabalwear Sports.

02:16which I'm born with some Lind where We are on one of our jobs.

02:20And starting eventually � prosecutor's exhaustive sector.

02:23So we get at the moment exactly what those teams do during us.

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