DeclineIntoCensorship

Australia’s social media ban for kids is now in effect. As we’ve discussed, this is a monumentally stupid plan that will do real harm to kids. It’s based on a moral panic and a wide variety of faulty assumptions, including that social media websites are inherently bad for kids, something that none of the evidence supports. And, even if there were harms associated with social media, the way you deal with them is teaching people (not just kids!) how to use them in an age appropriate way—meaning understanding the difference between risks and harms—not banning it altogether.

But, Australia has gone in the other direction entirely, and the clusterfuck is just beginning.

This ban is incredibly stupid and self-defeating moral panic.

Regulating billionaires is hard work!

So we said: let’s just ban the kids. So now the billionaires can keep pegging humanity with even less incentive to moderate….

Sure we rushed this law through in just nine days Ignoring hundreds of experts, our Human Rights Commission, and our leading digital rights, Indigenous, and mental health orgs. And sure we’ve created huge privacy and identity theft risks, and taken a big shit on freedom of speech.

But think of the children.

Good thing we have thought about the children now!