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Understanding social media changes and how to protect children
Guardian Nigeria
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1/14/2025
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00:00
Now many of the social media platforms that our children and young people are using are ready to
00:05
undergo big changes. Last week, Meta announced that it will no longer have fact checkers for
00:11
Facebook and Instagram in the United States. TikTok's being faced with a ban in the U.S.
00:16
or being sold, and by the end of 2025 this year, children under 16 in Australia will not be able
00:23
to have social media accounts. With all of these changes and challenges, the big question is what
00:29
can parents do to protect their children while ensuring that they continue to find good
00:33
opportunities online? We're going to talk about that now with Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov, who joins
00:38
me now on set. She's a digital parenting expert and thought leader on online safety and well-being.
00:43
Elizabeth, thank you for coming on. It's always great to have you on the show. So let's start at
00:47
the beginning. What kind of harm might families be facing in light of all these changes? I mean,
00:52
first of all, explain this announcement from Meta. What does it say exactly?
00:55
So I think it's really important. The basics is that there's been a change in moderation policy.
01:00
So that means that Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp,
01:04
they are going to allow more speech and more content. And so what we don't quite know is what
01:10
that's going to look like. They're also going to take away third-party fact checkers. And so this
01:15
is what keeps these platforms safe, is knowing that the content that's out there is being fact
01:20
checked. And then lastly, they're adopting a new system called Community Notes, which is something
01:25
that X has, which basically allows the contributors, the people who are on the platform to sort of
01:30
fact check themselves. So you can see how this can take us down into some dicey situations.
01:35
But I think what's really important for parents and caregivers to understand is the consequences
01:40
of these actions. It just means a lot of harmful content is going to be out there because we won't
01:46
have moderation. We won't have fact checking. So that means things like more misinformation,
01:52
where we just don't know if it's true. It means that there's more of a possibility of cyber
01:56
bullying because kids will be able to say, and young people and adults, will be able to say
02:01
whatever they want without being moderated. There is also a risk of just a lot more harmful conduct.
02:08
And really something that frightens me is just this idea, this erosion of online trust, where you
02:12
just don't know if you can trust what you can read anymore. But I also think it's really
02:17
important to remember that children are just so vulnerable. So whatever they see, they're going to
02:21
take at face value. And that is the most harmful consequence of just removing all of these types of
02:27
guardrails that have been put in place. Right. So just to remind everyone again, we're talking about
02:31
these consequences of more harmful content, the cyber bullying, loss of trust, like you're saying,
02:35
in online content. I mean, in the face of those things, what can parents do to reduce the risks
02:40
for their children? Yeah, it's really always the same thing that I've been saying from the beginning
02:45
is stay informed, get educated. You don't have to be an online safety expert to really be thinking
02:53
about critical thinking, to ask your children who, what, where, when, why, what are they doing online,
02:59
setting some boundaries. My goodness, it's just really nice to set your own limits, your own
03:04
expectations and values for your family. And I think really something that is truly important
03:09
is always encouraging that positive and responsible use of technology because
03:13
we are in it. And so we have to find ways to sort of surmount all of these issues and challenges.
03:18
All right. Well, give us some specific examples about all of this. I mean, for example,
03:22
setting boundaries. I mean, what can parents do specifically? Yeah, sure. So I think specifically
03:26
it's talking to your children. So for example, misinformation, explaining the difference between
03:31
misinformation and disinformation, right? Misinformation just means it's wrong, falsely
03:35
wrong. Disinformation is that it's deliberate. So I always tell my own kids, they're trying to
03:39
diss you. And this way they keep it in their minds about disinformation. That's good. Disinformation
03:43
with a D, deliberate. I'm going to remember that. Exactly. Again, that fact checking where you can
03:48
do this with your children. You can go on different websites like Snopes, for example, or others,
03:53
and you can just say, what do you think is the meaning of this? Who do you think is the target?
03:56
Who's going to benefit? So those are some of the things that parents can easily do in addition to
04:00
asking your children, who's your favorite influencer? What does the influencer say?
04:04
What does an expert say? What do we think about this? But I think something that's also really
04:10
important is we were talking about that educational piece for parents. There are tons of resources out
04:14
there for parents. In the United States, Common Sense Media, the Family Online Safety Institute,
04:20
Digital Wellness Lab. Here in Paris, you have e-Enfance. In the UK, there is NSPCC
04:27
and Internet Matters and Parent Zone. And of course, I'm affiliated with so many of these
04:31
for volunteer work. One of my favorites is in Australia for the e-Safety Commissioner. So
04:35
there's really, parents have no excuse not to roll up their sleeves and get those resources.
04:39
Just very briefly, I'm going to just throw this at you. What do you think about that decision
04:42
in Australia to completely ban social media up to 16? Yeah, well, let's not forget that it's up
04:47
until December 2025. So it's not quite 100% there yet. I think that they will sort of revise it and
04:54
revisit it. And they have to because really, this is like water, right? It's just out there. And we
04:58
just can't limit our children and say, you're never going to get near water again. We have to
05:02
teach them how to swim safely. Elizabeth, we just have a minute left. I mean, it looks like there's
05:06
going to be a lot of challenges ahead, as there always are for parents when it comes to social
05:09
media. I mean, and any last tips for parents out there? For sure. Don't panic. Parent, you know,
05:14
stay calm. I'm so happy that we're talking about this now because I think that a lot of people are
05:18
anxious about this. And really, it's the same thing. We just have to talk with our children
05:22
and guide them through this. Be their digital guardians. And we can do it, Jeannie. All right,
05:26
be the digital guardians. And we can get all the help that we need by checking out your website,
05:29
ElizabethDigitalParentingCoach.com. Check out Dr. Elizabeth Milobidov. Lots of great
05:34
tips on the website as well. And thank you, as always, for coming in. It's always great to have
05:38
you. Thank you.
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