Understanding social media changes and how to protect children

Guardian Nigeria

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00:00Now many of the social media platforms that our children and young people are using are ready to

00:05undergo big changes. Last week, Meta announced that it will no longer have fact checkers for

00:11Facebook and Instagram in the United States. TikTok's being faced with a ban in the U.S.

00:16or being sold, and by the end of 2025 this year, children under 16 in Australia will not be able

00:23to have social media accounts. With all of these changes and challenges, the big question is what

00:29can parents do to protect their children while ensuring that they continue to find good

00:33opportunities online? We're going to talk about that now with Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov, who joins

00:38me now on set. She's a digital parenting expert and thought leader on online safety and well-being.

00:43Elizabeth, thank you for coming on. It's always great to have you on the show. So let's start at

00:47the beginning. What kind of harm might families be facing in light of all these changes? I mean,

00:52first of all, explain this announcement from Meta. What does it say exactly?

00:55So I think it's really important. The basics is that there's been a change in moderation policy.

01:00So that means that Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp,

01:04they are going to allow more speech and more content. And so what we don't quite know is what

01:10that's going to look like. They're also going to take away third-party fact checkers. And so this

01:15is what keeps these platforms safe, is knowing that the content that's out there is being fact

01:20checked. And then lastly, they're adopting a new system called Community Notes, which is something

01:25that X has, which basically allows the contributors, the people who are on the platform to sort of

01:30fact check themselves. So you can see how this can take us down into some dicey situations.

01:35But I think what's really important for parents and caregivers to understand is the consequences

01:40of these actions. It just means a lot of harmful content is going to be out there because we won't

01:46have moderation. We won't have fact checking. So that means things like more misinformation,

01:52where we just don't know if it's true. It means that there's more of a possibility of cyber

01:56bullying because kids will be able to say, and young people and adults, will be able to say

02:01whatever they want without being moderated. There is also a risk of just a lot more harmful conduct.

02:08And really something that frightens me is just this idea, this erosion of online trust, where you

02:12just don't know if you can trust what you can read anymore. But I also think it's really

02:17important to remember that children are just so vulnerable. So whatever they see, they're going to

02:21take at face value. And that is the most harmful consequence of just removing all of these types of

02:27guardrails that have been put in place. Right. So just to remind everyone again, we're talking about

02:31these consequences of more harmful content, the cyber bullying, loss of trust, like you're saying,

02:35in online content. I mean, in the face of those things, what can parents do to reduce the risks

02:40for their children? Yeah, it's really always the same thing that I've been saying from the beginning

02:45is stay informed, get educated. You don't have to be an online safety expert to really be thinking

02:53about critical thinking, to ask your children who, what, where, when, why, what are they doing online,

02:59setting some boundaries. My goodness, it's just really nice to set your own limits, your own

03:04expectations and values for your family. And I think really something that is truly important

03:09is always encouraging that positive and responsible use of technology because

03:13we are in it. And so we have to find ways to sort of surmount all of these issues and challenges.

03:18All right. Well, give us some specific examples about all of this. I mean, for example,

03:22setting boundaries. I mean, what can parents do specifically? Yeah, sure. So I think specifically

03:26it's talking to your children. So for example, misinformation, explaining the difference between

03:31misinformation and disinformation, right? Misinformation just means it's wrong, falsely

03:35wrong. Disinformation is that it's deliberate. So I always tell my own kids, they're trying to

03:39diss you. And this way they keep it in their minds about disinformation. That's good. Disinformation

03:43with a D, deliberate. I'm going to remember that. Exactly. Again, that fact checking where you can

03:48do this with your children. You can go on different websites like Snopes, for example, or others,

03:53and you can just say, what do you think is the meaning of this? Who do you think is the target?

03:56Who's going to benefit? So those are some of the things that parents can easily do in addition to

04:00asking your children, who's your favorite influencer? What does the influencer say?

04:04What does an expert say? What do we think about this? But I think something that's also really

04:10important is we were talking about that educational piece for parents. There are tons of resources out

04:14there for parents. In the United States, Common Sense Media, the Family Online Safety Institute,

04:20Digital Wellness Lab. Here in Paris, you have e-Enfance. In the UK, there is NSPCC

04:27and Internet Matters and Parent Zone. And of course, I'm affiliated with so many of these

04:31for volunteer work. One of my favorites is in Australia for the e-Safety Commissioner. So

04:35there's really, parents have no excuse not to roll up their sleeves and get those resources.

04:39Just very briefly, I'm going to just throw this at you. What do you think about that decision

04:42in Australia to completely ban social media up to 16? Yeah, well, let's not forget that it's up

04:47until December 2025. So it's not quite 100% there yet. I think that they will sort of revise it and

04:54revisit it. And they have to because really, this is like water, right? It's just out there. And we

04:58just can't limit our children and say, you're never going to get near water again. We have to

05:02teach them how to swim safely. Elizabeth, we just have a minute left. I mean, it looks like there's

05:06going to be a lot of challenges ahead, as there always are for parents when it comes to social

05:09media. I mean, and any last tips for parents out there? For sure. Don't panic. Parent, you know,

05:14stay calm. I'm so happy that we're talking about this now because I think that a lot of people are

05:18anxious about this. And really, it's the same thing. We just have to talk with our children

05:22and guide them through this. Be their digital guardians. And we can do it, Jeannie. All right,

05:26be the digital guardians. And we can get all the help that we need by checking out your website,

05:29ElizabethDigitalParentingCoach.com. Check out Dr. Elizabeth Milobidov. Lots of great

05:34tips on the website as well. And thank you, as always, for coming in. It's always great to have

05:38you. Thank you.

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