I don’t see Hexbear on the list. Time to radicalize some Aussie kids.
Olmate 23 year old tradie is going to get an earful about this when he picks up his girlfriend from high school on Monday arvo. She’s gonna be asking for his phone to scroll TikTok
This is probably a means of controlling the narrative going forwards. They are worried about kids finding out how much bullshit the media pushes about the west’s enemies, China in particular. With an upcoming war or “trade war” with China, all the propaganda is going to go into overdrive. The kids’ reaction to Gaza has been horrifying for the ruling class, they don’t want a repeat of that, especially as these kids are going to be military aged by the time things really kick off for a war.
Then again, I might be thinking about this far more long term than the Australian parliament, they do have a nasty habit of making incredibly short sighted decisions.
Honestly it’s really hard to work out whether this is an ‘elites experimenting with new policies in a backwoods client state’ thing, or the Aus govt are just idiots who can’t imagine addressing social problems in a more complex way than ‘fuck it just make it illegal’
Considering our government’s attitude towards the internet is that it is a “fad” that will soon blow over, it’s probably more of the latter.
Why not both?
I think it’s the majors terrified of losing votes to minors. Labor to the greens and Lib to the teals.
They’ve both felt threatened, and seen social media be used to shift kids on climate and Palestine. They’re doing this alongside electoral reforms to cement funding for a two party system.
It’s also a backdoor 5 eyes surveillance bill. Means all adults have to use ID to register on social media.
I can’t help but feel this is partially an attempt to ban trans youth by proxy - essentially an attempt to limit the ability for a kid to get out from under the thumb of their parents. You can see it in the arguments that claim this ban returns power to the parents - they know they’re stifling communities and ways of spreading knowledge.
Australia’s never had a proper reckoning with the trans issue - we just keep importing views and controversies. But if push came to shove, I know exactly where this reactionary country is landing
I agree that’s a negative consequence of the bill but I think it’s unintended. I don’t think it has even figured into the planning.
It’s surveillance stuff, plus when you’re the ostensibly centre-left but actually still reactionary neoliberal party you can’t do anything meaningful so you just ban something.
Australia has a history of dumb “somebody think of the children” laws that the children bypass within 20 seconds.
Are small breasts still functionally banned, or has the classification board smartened the fuck up in the last decade?
Excuse me, what’s functionally banned now?
This is actually an old internet half-truth. The Australian ratings board’s rules refuses classification to porn where the actress “appears” underage, regardless of her actual age, which could potentially possibly lead to porn from small-breasted actresses being refused - but AFAIK that’s never actually happened.
ratings board’s rules refuses classification to porn where
Does the Australian Ratings Board classify porn otherwise?
Yes, Australian censorship is done through refusing classification, which makes the material illegal to import or sell. But frankly its been a joke for as long as the internet has existed.
Hahaha what a hilarious bureaucrat job rating porn for the state hell yeah what a country
cowards
it should be banned for under 60
Over 60 too, but also under 60
You can only use social media for three days after your sixtieth birthday.
Are right-wingers crying censorship?
I bet they aren’t, they care more about policing children than they do free speech.
Yes, social media is bad for the mental health of everyone, especially children, but it’s also how everyone under 40 gets their news now. This feels like a response to young people learning the Palestinian side of things through Tiktok.
Now they can juice them up on main stream media propaganda while they’re young.
No it has bi-partisan support because it’s got nothing to do with saving the children and everything to do with digital ID for all citizens. Time to VPN up mateys.
Your digital ID will then shown you’re on a VPN
All your metadata is already recorded for 2 years iirc.
That’s probably the goal but I have a feeling it’ll backfire and kids will find their way to places like this or they’ll just learn how to use VPNs to get around the ban.
They will end up in far worse regulated dark parts of the internet. This has nothing to do with protecting the children. Kinda like how america’s PATRIOT act was one of the least patriotic bits of legislation to ever pass at that point in time.
They want all australians to have to prove their real identities to use the internet.
On the plus side every time they try to make something happen with the internet hundreds of thousands of people end up with their data stolen. Wait that’s not a plus.
Anyway go ahead, drive them off the internet and into the streets. That’ll work out well for them heheheh.
They will end up in far worse regulated dark parts of the internet.
that’s us. or at least, we should make it us going forward
Good. Social media is a cancer that’s played a big role in the far-right surging in popularity.
This citations needed fan forum should be off limits to everyone in Australia; those under sixteen years of age as well as those over sixteen years of age.
The legislation only applies to big scary sites you hear about with massive audiences that have the potential for narrative shaping. There are exemptions for smaller sites. Probably because they understand that what they’re trying to do is only possible if all parties decide “yeah this is a good idea and we can make money” or “oh fuck they’ve heard of my website, I don’t want to get fined.”
This is just another step in an assault on “new media” / social media that is being carried out across all five-eyes nations. I feel schizophrenic when I try to explain the extent of what is happening, but Arab Spring was a wake-up call, Trump was a klaxon, Covid rattled them too because it showed just how little power governments and their lackeys have now to narrative shape and maintain social cohesion.
The security state apparatus in some participating nations started embedding themselves in the decision making structures of major platforms, other weaker countries have had to resort to passing speech restriction laws and taking eg. google to court. When that fails, they “Great Firewall of <Nation>” the problem like USA’s constant threat to ban Tiktok and Australia’s failed attempts to end piracy and ban 4chan.
There’s a quiet little multi-front war going on
againstfor control of the internet right now.But on your sixteenth birthday, you get 24 hours to go wild
this seems Good, to me
The amendments passed on Friday bolster privacy protections. Platforms would not be allowed to compel users to provide government-issued identity documents including passports or driver’s licenses, nor could they demand digital identification through a government system.
Okay so how will tech companies go about doing this? My best bet is random auditing of every social media profile in the country by “AI” which is actually underpaid workers in the global south.
They will implement it via trusted third party platform service providers like they do every function of government in their quest to turn the citizen into a customer and charge a fee for right to make profit selling access to their people.
i would imagine it’s gonna be the same “Are you over 18? Y/N” lander page you’d find on most websites with adult content
