The New South Wales and South Australian Premiers say the need for action from governments on social media restrictions for children is "urgent". The two states are hosting a summit on the impacts of harms of social media on children and young people.
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00:00The summit's going to take place here in Sydney today before it moves over to Adelaide tomorrow.
00:08Today we're going to hear from a range of people, largely looking to see the way social
00:12media exists be reformed, particularly when it comes to access for young people.
00:17It comes in the context of parent groups, researchers, as well as Frances Haugen, a
00:24whistleblower and former employee of Facebook, raising the alarm of the way these social
00:29media platforms can potentially expose young people, including children, under the age
00:34of 12 to content that is either a. harmful or b. not appropriate for their emotional
00:40capacity as their brains are still developing.
00:43Now of course these problems don't just affect children, they're endemic across society in
00:47the way we all interact with social media, but there is a particular focus on school
00:52children.
00:53Of course, two premiers, both from New South Wales, Chris Minns, as well as South Australia's
00:58Peter Malinowskis, are looking to see what might be the solutions and restrictions of
01:03a potential sort for children interacting with these social media platforms.
01:08Premier of South Australia Peter Malinowskis says it's an urgent priority of his government.
01:14Social media is now a critical part of the social infrastructure in terms of how children
01:19relate to one another, and there lies in the problem.
01:23We have now got kids interacting between one another almost exclusively through TikTok
01:29or Facebook or one of these other companies, and they are determining the way that relationships
01:33are formed rather than being done in a more authentic and natural way.
01:38Meanwhile Premier Chris Minns of New South Wales has said himself that even though these
01:42restrictions may not be a silver bullet, that should not be a disincentive in trying to
01:48tackle regulation.
01:50We need to draw a line in the sand here.
01:52We both acknowledge some kids will breach the rule.
01:55We both acknowledge it won't be honoured by everybody, particularly when you consider
01:58the widespread use of it today, but we put restrictions in place on alcohol and tobacco,
02:04on their sales to young people.
02:05It does make a difference, and it gives parents an extra tool to say to their kids in particular,
02:11look, it's not allowed, it is illegal, and we're not going to allow you to have a device
02:15or a social media site as well.
02:17Of course, if this summit does end up providing the ground basis for legislation restricting
02:22social media use for children, we don't exactly know what it could still yet look like.
02:27A ban of children under 14 is one option, however the opposition in New South Wales
02:33say that ban should extend right up to the age of 16.
02:37Whether or not that is pursued remains to be seen.
02:40Overseas we have seen some states in the United States of America take on reforms like this,
02:45as well as the European Union canvassed the idea of restricting access to social media
02:50for children under the age of 15 as well.
02:54However, in the context of Australia, if there were state laws even in South Australia and
02:59New South Wales, there would also need to be guidance at a federal level to ensure uniformity
03:04and that these rules could be practically enforceable.
03:08TikTok themselves, a social media giant, does have its own regulations in place trying to
03:13restrict those under 13 from the site, but concedes even after removing a million accounts
03:19in Australia last year, it does struggle in some instances to stop children accessing
03:24their platform.