New details on government’s social media age restriction laws revealed at summit

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The federal government says it plans to hold social media platforms responsible for youth safety online as it outlines its plan for a ban. Communications minister Michelle Rowland says the government is working to have the right penalties in place.

Transcript

00:00We see the onus as being on the platforms,

00:05not on users or their parents

00:08when it comes to safety online.

00:11It's important to incentivise the platforms

00:14to create less at-risk platforms,

00:18less at-risk apps, less at-risk services.

00:22To that end, we look forward to working with industry

00:26to help achieve this goal.

00:28We know through recent developments

00:30that the platforms can and they should

00:33be doing more in this space.

00:36There of course remains other unregulated areas

00:39where we know there is work to be done

00:41when it comes to educating children

00:42on how best to deal with the challenges

00:45that they simply will confront.

00:46We wanna make sure that in South Australia

00:48we're leading the way in that regard

00:49and that's why today we are announcing

00:52that there will be a school-based program

00:55that applies to all schools

00:56throughout the state of South Australia

00:58within the curriculum that gives access to children,

01:03to the knowledge and the tools

01:04about how to confront the challenges

01:06they'll experience online.

01:07I think it's been our view for a while now

01:09that this is a global, unregulated experiment

01:13on young people.

01:14This is the first generation that's gone through

01:17this kind of access to social media.

01:19And as a result of that access to social media,

01:22exposure to what is often harmful content,

01:25what is often hurtful content

01:28or bullying behavior within social groups.

01:30We need to be able to do something about it.

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