The Greens have criticised Labor and Liberal for ignoring expert evidence and ramming laws through Parliament to ban young people from social media without genuine scrutiny.
The Greens have called on the Government to protect children with a ban on the targeting, harvesting, and selling of their data, a Digital Duty of Care, and a range of other measures supported by the Joint Select Committee into Social Media.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is Spokesperson for Communications, Senator for South Australia:
“The Government’s deal with Dutton to ram through a social media age ban in under a week is rushed, reckless and goes against the evidence. We can’t let the tech giants off the hook.
“As parents, we are rightly worried about the safety of our kids. This is why the Greens and experts have been calling for measures to reduce the damage being done by poisonous algorithms that fuel division, damage democracy and target our kids with extreme content.
“The recent Parliamentary Inquiry into Social Media heard time and time again that an age-ban will not make social media safer for anyone. It is complicated to implement and will have unintended consequences for young people. Yet the Government and Coalition have chosen to ignore the evidence and ram this bill through in the final week of sitting.
“Whether you’re a 14-year-old or a 64-year-old – these companies have a responsibility to provide a safe product to the community and that’s why a Digital Duty of Care should be the priority.
“If the Government can rush these laws through, why can’t they implement the legislated duty of care they promised, or take measures that actually make platforms safer for everyone, like banning platforms from collecting, selling and exploiting Australians’ data?
“You don’t make platforms safer by just locking young people out. The Greens do not support a blunt age ban and will keep pushing for stronger action backed by evidence to tackle the toxic algorithms and insidious business model of these giant corporations.”
The Greens have also called for:
- A ban on the targeting, harvesting and selling of young people’s data
- A Digital Duty of Care on tech platforms
- EU-style guardrails to limit the toxicity of algorithms and extreme content
- The ability for users to turn down and opt-out of unwanted content
- The full release of the Online Safety Act review.
- Investment in education for young people and their families to help develop digital literacy and online safety skills, and equip them with the tools and resources they need for positive and responsible online use.