‘Relentless false information’ stream on social media

Australian parents are overwhelmed and powerless to stop the harmful influences of social media, an eating disorder support expert and parent with lived experience says.

“Parents need help,” Eating Disorders Families Australia executive director Jane Rowan told politicians in Canberra on Wednesday.

“Government intervention, to set the rules that social media must abide by if they are to operate in Australia, is not only needed – it is essential.

“Why is it that around one-in-five boys and one-in-three girls worldwide are now experiencing disordered eating? Why has the incidence of eating disorders in those aged 10-19 risen by 86 per cent since 2012? These are the questions we must ask.

“How many young lives must be ruined? … This is a national crisis and urgent action is needed.”

The Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society held another round of hearings on Wednesday.

Chaired by Victorian Labor MP Kate Thwaites, the committee is hearing from tech and gambling experts, media outlets and health and safety charities.

Ms Rowan’s daughter was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa at the age of 15 and now considered herself recovered, seven years on.

Instagram fuelled her eating disorder with a “relentless stream of false information about diets and unrealistic body images”, Ms Rowan told the committee.

“She lacked the maturity and skills to discern helpful content from harmful content. As her parent, I was not even aware that she was consuming pro-anorexia and self-harm content.”

Ms Rowan’s daughter got around “strict” device-use rules and parental monitoring of her Instagram account by having multiple accounts.

“Our story is not unique. Eating Disorder Families Australia currently supports over 3000 parents and carers of those with an eating disorder,” she said.

The eating disorder charity wants the government to raise the age limit for social media to 16, and the social media companies to install effective age verification

“As my 15-year-old daughter succinctly states, she would be fine without social media access if it applied to everyone,” Ms Rowan said.

The joint committee is due to present an interim report in mid-August, and its final report in mid-November.

‘Social arson’: Group slams predatory social media

Social media giants do not care about ethics as young people are subject to an onslaught of sexploitation, an Australian campaigner says.

“These companies don’t respond to ethics,” Collective Shout director Melinda Tankard Reist told the inquiry on Wednesday.

“They only care about the bottom line … they don’t care that they’ve moved to encryption, and police are saying they won’t be able to detect upwards of 90 per cent of the child exploitation material that is now being shared.”

Ms Tankard Reist is the director of Collective Shout, an organisation determined to end the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls.

“These companies don’t even enforce their own terms and conditions,” Ms Tankard Reist said.

“Instagram for example should be forced to change its settings so that men can’t comment on how they would like to rape little girls, which is happening as we speak. These comments are not removed, they are not taken down.”

Trafficking, predation, sexploitation and grooming are prevalent on the “anti-social media” tech platforms which have committed “social arson”, she said.

TikTok promotes whipping, sadism and choking, including choking challenges which have killed people, the campaigner said.

At least five Australian boys have ended their lives due to sextortion scams, after being blackmailed by who they had thought were “hot young women”.

Consensual-non-consent or “rape play” is a popular tag on TikTok, she says.

Thirteen-year-old Australian girls “tell me they are regularly” sent live masturbation videos on Snapchat, Ms Tankard Reist said.

‘Tribute’ videos of men and boys masturbating to specific girls are not taken down off X, she said.

“Their products are not safe for children. Not safe for minors.”

Collective Shout wants a 16-years-of-age limit for social media, and 18 years for porn and gambling sites.

“(Age verification) doesn’t have to be bulletproof to be worthwhile. Children can still get alcohol and cigarettes, but we don’t sell it to them over the counter.”

The social media companies needed to face fines, for hosting exploitative material, which were commensurate with their huge revenues and global reach, Ms Tankard Reist said.

“This is beyond any one country on its own. It’s too big, it’s too monolithic.”