The federal government must do extra to guard younger individuals 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 kids from being uncovered to harmful materials.
However the younger individuals on the committee argued in opposition to calls to ban social media for under-16s, saying it might stop individuals from accessing its advantages, and that younger individuals 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 individuals engaged.
She stated some younger individuals had been changing into desensitised to glorified violence on-line, due to how usually it’s proven to them.
The committee known as for higher media literacy schooling in colleges, together with about how algorithms work and the way college students can “defend themselves and distinguish reality from fiction”.
The report additionally known as for extra coaching and help for lecturers, dad and mom and carers to assist educate younger individuals on the potential risks of the net world.
The report welcomed measures within the On-line Security Act, however stated the invoice was not strong sufficient to implement minimal age limits on social media platforms, or to make sure kids and younger individuals can be shielded from dangerous content material.
The invoice, which is being launched this 12 months, places extra accountability on social media firms to forestall their companies getting used for criminal activity, and to take down unlawful content material when it does seem.
These measures have already been launched. A authorities spokesperson stated these had been “only the start”, and extra had been as a consequence 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 foundations, introducing a web based security scorecard to assist younger individuals 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, just like the one being applied in Australia, “is neither sensible nor efficient”.
Many younger individuals might discover methods round age verification strategies, and a ban would cease them accessing constructive content material on social media, the report stated.
The committee as a substitute known as on the federal government to carry social media firms to account extra successfully.
Members additionally stated younger individuals must be consulted extra usually in discussions round staying secure on-line, saying their expertise and concepts for options had been “important to shaping actual change”.
“Accountability 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 schooling system.
“We do not want empty guarantees. We’d like them to take motion, and motion is the one approach ahead.”
Extra reporting by Vanessa Clarke.
