The federal government must do extra to guard younger folks from violent and dangerous content material on-line, a brand new report suggests.
The Youth Choose Committee, a parliamentary group of 14 to 19-year-olds, stated the On-line Security Act was not strong sufficient to guard youngsters from being uncovered to harmful materials.
However the younger folks on the committee argued towards calls to ban social media for under-16s, saying it might stop folks from accessing its advantages, and that younger folks would discover methods round it.
The federal government stated it was “making our streets and on-line areas safer for kids” by delivering its Plan for Change.
Wania Eshaal Ahmad, the 15-year-old chair of the committee, stated it was “fairly abhorrent” that social media algorithms might inadvertently promote violent and dangerous content material to maintain younger folks engaged.
She stated some younger folks have been changing into desensitised to glorified violence on-line, due to how typically it’s proven to them.
The committee known as for higher media literacy training in colleges, together with about how algorithms work and the way college students can “defend themselves and distinguish truth from fiction”.
The report additionally known as for extra coaching and help for lecturers, mother and father and carers to assist educate younger folks on the potential risks of the net world.
The report welcomed measures in the Online Safety Act, however stated the invoice was not strong sufficient to implement minimal age limits on social media platforms, or to make sure youngsters and younger folks can be shielded from dangerous content material.
The invoice, which is being launched this 12 months, places extra duty on social media firms to stop their providers getting used for criminality, and to take down unlawful content material when it does seem.
These measures have already been launched. A authorities spokesperson stated these have been “only the start”, and extra have been on account of come into impact this 12 months.
However the committee’s report stated the federal government ought to do extra, together with naming and shaming platforms which fail to adjust to the principles, introducing an internet security scorecard to assist younger folks keep away from dangerous content material, and doing extra analysis into the hyperlinks between on-line and real-life violence.
Whereas the committee stated the invoice doesn’t go far sufficient, its report stated banning social media for under-16s was not the reply.
Members stated a ban, like the one being implemented in Australia, “is neither sensible nor efficient”.
Many younger folks might discover methods round age verification strategies, and a ban would cease them accessing optimistic content material on social media, the report stated.
The committee as an alternative known as on the federal government to carry social media firms to account extra successfully.
Members additionally stated younger folks needs to be consulted extra typically in discussions round staying protected on-line, saying their expertise and concepts for options have been “very important to shaping actual change”.
“Duty is a really key facet of our report,” Wania stated.
“And that is what we want from the federal government, from social media firms and from the training system.
“We do not want empty guarantees. We’d like them to take motion, and motion is the one manner ahead.”
Extra reporting by Vanessa Clarke.
