Senator lashes ‘outrageous’ call on social ban

The industry body which represents social media giants including Meta, TikTok and Twitter have been accused of putting their interests above those of children, as the government looks to pass laws which would ban social media use for teenagers under 16 this week.

During a senate inquiry probing the legislation, Liberal senator Sarah Henderson accused Digi’s managing director Sunita Bose of making an “outrageous statement” in stating she opposed the law because she was concerned it would “compromise the safety of young people”.

Senator Henderson accused Ms Bose of protecting Digi’s clients, which included platforms which would be banned under the Bill.

“You’re trying to protect the big tech giants. You’re trying to protect them,” she said.

Ms Bose also would not directly say whether she agreed with a controversial statement from Meta’s global head of safety Antigone Davis, who said she didn’t think social media harms children.

“There are certainly … examples … of young people where it has done harm, and then there are other examples of young people where they’ve seen benefit,” she said.

“This underscores the importance of taking a nuanced look at these issues and a balanced policy approach.”

Senator Jacqui Lambie also unleashed at the industry group and asked why platforms have refused to withdraw algorithms which were harming children.

“Just put in the algorithms to stop this. If you really give a stuff about our kids, why don’t you just put in the algorithms that’ll fix this?” she said.

However Ms Bose defended the algorithms as being “critical to efforts on online safety,” stating “they’re actually what weeds out harmful content,” leading to further interjection from senators.

Digi’s policy regulatory affairs and research director Jennifer Duxbury added that platforms were already under safety obligations to “make sure that the best interests of the children are taken into account,” something Senator Lambie refuted.

“I’m just asking you, why don’t the platforms put in the algorithms to fix it? I don’t want excuses. I just want to know why they’re not doing the job. If you give a stuff about our kids, why aren’t you doing something about it?” Senator Lambie said.

In a terse and heated hearing, Ms Bose was also asked to “please explain” her position to parents of the teenagers Charlotte O’Brien and Olivia Evans who died from suicide after experiencing bullying on social media.

Following their deaths, the parents of Charlotte and Olivia have both advocated for and supported the ban.

“Grieving families … have been campaigning for social media age limits. Can you please explain to those parents and to other parents who’ve lost their children why you are right and they are wrong?” asked Senator Henderson.

While Ms Bose acknowledged the “tragic events”, she said a wide-ranging ban could risk children going to “darker, less safe, less regulated online spaces” which were less regulated.

“These are absolutely tragic events, and as a parent of two myself, I cannot imagine anything worse,” she said.

We must remain focused on how we protect young people online without cutting them off from the connection and the mental health support that previous witnesses have discussed today, we do this by teaching young people how to safely navigate online spaces, how to seek help.”

Social media doesn’t benefit mental health: expert

Earlier in the inquiry, clinical psychologist Danielle Einstein told the committee any benefits of social media to mental health are “far outweighed” by the disadvantages.

“I do not see any benefits for mental health from social media. I’ve looked really hard at the evidence,” she said.

Prof Einstein said the ban could change the norms in which young people automatically engage in social media over creating relationships in physical spaces.

“Parents can’t ask their children to be off social media because they then miss out on everything, but once you have a chunk who are happy to do that, they know they’ll still have friends,” she said.

She said forcing teenagers off social media will also remove the “addictive element of social media,” like notifications, which will in turn encourage young people to form real-life relationships.

Although Project Rockit chief executive officer Lucy Thomas was against the ban, and criticised it for being a “blunt instrument,” she said the legislation’s exemption framework would allow teens and children to continue to access low-risk apps.

“I think by prioritising the exemption framework as a key feature of this bill, we could look to create pathways for the reintegration of age appropriate social online experiences, as industry steps up and government builds its literacy to really meet this responsibility,” she said.