4 ms·

The very same office of the eSafety commissioner that is enforcing age verification for social media. https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/blogs/social-media-mi

by mjmas 5mo ago

The very same office of the eSafety commissioner that is enforcing age verification for social media. https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/blogs/social-media-minimum-age-compliance-report https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/blogs/social-media-minim...

danw1979 5mo ago
Yes. Isn’t effective regulation of dangerous products wonderful.
- Lerc 5mo ago
  It is, provided there is a broad consensuss of experts in the field who agree on the danger and what to about it, the government regulates based on that information and that the regulation is effective. Apart from those things, the Australian government did an excellent job.
  - crowcroft 5mo ago
    Who are the experts in the field, and who decides they're experts? "More doctors smoke camels than any other cigarette".
    - sellmesoap 5mo ago
      I'd add one of these: https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/peter-thiel-bill-gates-steve-jobs-steve-chen-tech-billionaires-publicly-shielding-their-children-from-tech-products-social-media/ https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/peter-thiel-bill-gates-steve-... but uh here I am on a social media site rebroadcasting that message... I'll add that I'm for an open internet, I don't think we need age verification. Walled gardens have a lot more shade then alternatives. Becoming aware of the many forms of abstracted gambling (time, tokens, or otherwise) makes the internet a much more affordable and sane place.
    - Lerc 5mo ago
      https://childrightstaskforce.org.au/ https://childrightstaskforce.org.au/ >Our membership is made up of advocates, service providers, individuals and experts, speaking with a united voice to promote and realise the rights of Australian children. >The Child Rights Taskforce is co-convened by UNICEF Australia and James McDougall and is led by a Steering Committee of child rights organisations and experts. Here is their position on the social media ban. https://apo.org.au/node/328608 https://apo.org.au/node/328608
- protocolture 5mo ago
  Effective in that its easily bypassed, and dangerous insofar as the government appears to be happy for the use to continue as long as kids use their dogs face to bypass it. Of course, when you point this out they step into "Oh but we knew it wouldn't work immediately" which is so silly its staggering. But of course, the technology has been applied immediately to moral panic stuff like porn also.
HDBaseT 5mo ago
[flagged]
- protocolture 5mo ago
  >The eSafety office is actually perfectly reasonable If it was reasonable it would have been taken to an election, and not rushed in as a measure to scrub the internet of the chrstchurch massacre.
  - don_quiquong 5mo ago
    Eh, I'm no big fan of the eSafety Office but if it was taken to an election there'd either be vague general support or just a lack of interest - no big opposition outside maybe The Greens and civil/digital rights groups.
ropable 5mo ago
You say that like it's a bad thing. Not everyone thinks so.
- mort96 5mo ago
  You're right, some people are misguided and think age verification can be done in a way that isn't the death of privacy and anonymity online.
  - tardedmeme 5mo ago
    Don't we all hate social media? From that standpoint, anything that makes it hard to use or come with direct negative consequences is good.
    - whateverboat 5mo ago
      Age verification for social media looks like it is different from age verification for internet. But it really is not.
      - tardedmeme 5mo ago
        Is social media the internet? You could also open a website.
    - mort96 5mo ago
      What do you mean by "social media"? We all hate Facebook, but do we all hate Hacker News? Mastodon? A Discord or IRC community for an online game? I'm all for age restrictions for certain kinds of social media, but age verification is a system of surveillance and the death of online privacy.
      - tardedmeme 5mo ago
        So, the actual laws are targeting things more specifically than just "social media". Some are talking about intentionally addictive content algorithms, or personalized algorithms. Others are naming specific named companies. Don't confuse social media with social networks. Social media is media - they select what you watch, like a TV channel, but personalized for each user. You might get a narrow choice from several options they selected. Social networks are just tools for communication. I used the word "algorithm" so I'm going to preemptively point out that it means something in relation to social media that's more specific than what it means in computer science.

by mjmas 5mo ago

danw1979 5mo ago

Yes. Isn’t effective regulation of dangerous products wonderful.

Lerc 5mo ago
It is, provided there is a broad consensuss of experts in the field who agree on the danger and what to about it, the government regulates based on that information and that the regulation is effective. Apart from those things, the Australian government did an excellent job.
- crowcroft 5mo ago
  Who are the experts in the field, and who decides they're experts? "More doctors smoke camels than any other cigarette".
  - sellmesoap 5mo ago
    I'd add one of these: https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/peter-thiel-bill-gates-steve-jobs-steve-chen-tech-billionaires-publicly-shielding-their-children-from-tech-products-social-media/ https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/peter-thiel-bill-gates-steve-... but uh here I am on a social media site rebroadcasting that message... I'll add that I'm for an open internet, I don't think we need age verification. Walled gardens have a lot more shade then alternatives. Becoming aware of the many forms of abstracted gambling (time, tokens, or otherwise) makes the internet a much more affordable and sane place.
  - Lerc 5mo ago
    https://childrightstaskforce.org.au/ https://childrightstaskforce.org.au/ >Our membership is made up of advocates, service providers, individuals and experts, speaking with a united voice to promote and realise the rights of Australian children. >The Child Rights Taskforce is co-convened by UNICEF Australia and James McDougall and is led by a Steering Committee of child rights organisations and experts. Here is their position on the social media ban. https://apo.org.au/node/328608 https://apo.org.au/node/328608
protocolture 5mo ago
Effective in that its easily bypassed, and dangerous insofar as the government appears to be happy for the use to continue as long as kids use their dogs face to bypass it. Of course, when you point this out they step into "Oh but we knew it wouldn't work immediately" which is so silly its staggering. But of course, the technology has been applied immediately to moral panic stuff like porn also.

HDBaseT 5mo ago

[flagged]

protocolture 5mo ago
>The eSafety office is actually perfectly reasonable If it was reasonable it would have been taken to an election, and not rushed in as a measure to scrub the internet of the chrstchurch massacre.
- don_quiquong 5mo ago
  Eh, I'm no big fan of the eSafety Office but if it was taken to an election there'd either be vague general support or just a lack of interest - no big opposition outside maybe The Greens and civil/digital rights groups.

ropable 5mo ago

You say that like it's a bad thing. Not everyone thinks so.

mort96 5mo ago
You're right, some people are misguided and think age verification can be done in a way that isn't the death of privacy and anonymity online.
- tardedmeme 5mo ago
  Don't we all hate social media? From that standpoint, anything that makes it hard to use or come with direct negative consequences is good.
  - whateverboat 5mo ago
    Age verification for social media looks like it is different from age verification for internet. But it really is not.
    - tardedmeme 5mo ago
      Is social media the internet? You could also open a website.
  - mort96 5mo ago
    What do you mean by "social media"? We all hate Facebook, but do we all hate Hacker News? Mastodon? A Discord or IRC community for an online game? I'm all for age restrictions for certain kinds of social media, but age verification is a system of surveillance and the death of online privacy.
    - tardedmeme 5mo ago
      So, the actual laws are targeting things more specifically than just "social media". Some are talking about intentionally addictive content algorithms, or personalized algorithms. Others are naming specific named companies. Don't confuse social media with social networks. Social media is media - they select what you watch, like a TV channel, but personalized for each user. You might get a narrow choice from several options they selected. Social networks are just tools for communication. I used the word "algorithm" so I'm going to preemptively point out that it means something in relation to social media that's more specific than what it means in computer science.