Addressing the second day of the Social Media Summit, convened by the SA and NSW governments, in Adelaide, the author of New York Times bestselling book The Anxious Generation, an investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and Big Tech, thanked delegates for “leading the way in cleaning up the mess that America made for the world”.

He said the US Congress passed two “terrible” laws in the 1990s to help the internet grow without any guardrails which had limited legal action over online content and failed to impose strict age verification.

“With those two laws, we created monsters,” Dr Haidt said.

“We need you to slay them, or at least tame them.

“I’m thrilled by the legislation being introduced or drafted by Premier Peter Malinauskas, Premier Chris Minns and by your national government.”

The SA Government released a report by former High Court Chief Justice Robert French in September that included a draft bill with the legislative framework to ban children under 14 from social media and required companies to gain parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to use their platforms.

Haidt said the French report was “brilliant”.

“I read it, and was so pleased to see how he worked through how do you define social media, how do you make exceptions for certain things, what might legislation look like,” he said.

Key focus areas of the summit were the impacts of social media on children and young people’s wellbeing, online safety, social media’s role in disinformation and misinformation, addressing online hate and extremism and how social media is changing the way government delivers services.

Malinauskas told the summit on Friday all SA high schools would be resourced to deliver age-appropriate, evidence-based education programs on social media and online safety from 2025.

The “genuinely world-leading initiative” would empower young people with up-to-date information on cyberbullying, healthy body image, privacy issues associated with coercive control, image-based abuse and sextortion, and teach them to recognise scams, misinformation and fake news online, he said.

The initiative echoes the views of ReachOut CEO Gary Groves, who told EducationHQ on Thursday that we shouldn’t ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater’ by introducing a blanket ban on social media.

“... no matter what we do, whether they’re 13, 14, 16 – kids are going to go online at a point in time in their life. They need to be well equipped to go online, so you can have a ban, but they need to know what they’re getting themselves into online,” he said.

Minns said the summit was a unique initiative that brought together two states to discuss a policy issue.

He said summits were often characterised as “complete talkfests”.

“But can I say, what’s wrong with talking?” he said.

“The point of this conference is that talking is far better than scrolling, and human interaction is the basis of social progress.”

Malinauskas said governments would have a ready-made excuse to put social media regulation in a too-hard basket and the industry would be emboldened to operate in self-interest if “we stuff this up”.

“But if we get this right ... we will embolden other governments around the world to follow our example, and that success will embolden more governments and more after them,” he said.

The summit has been hearing from young people, policymakers, educators, parents, health professionals, academics and researchers on the challenges and potential solutions to the damage social media is inflicting on children.

NSW Premier Chris Minns says summits are often characterised as “complete talkfests”. “But can I say, what’s wrong with talking? The point of this conference is that talking is far better than scrolling, and human interaction is the basis of social progress,” he says.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said social media is the world’s most potent accelerator of extremism and adults must help protect children from online ‘hell holes’.

The chief of Australia’s top security agency told the summit social media was both a gold mine and a cesspit that creates communities and divides them.

“It makes it so attractive, and of course, why it’s so difficult, including for agencies like mine,” he said.

“Based on what I see at ASIO, the internet is the world’s most potent incubator of extremism, and social media is the world’s most potent accelerator of that extremism.”

The Federal Government is considering an exemption framework to accommodate access for social media services that demonstrate a low risk of harm to children.

Burgess said he was particularly concerned about the implications for young people, as the most enthusiastic participants in this digital ecosystem.

“If someone engages with extremist material, the algorithm will recommend more extremist material and potentially more extreme extremist material,” he said.

“Studies suggest users can go from mainstream content to extreme content in just a few clicks.”

Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland told the summit social media companies would be responsible for blocking children’s access to their platforms.

She is reviewing a minimum age of between 14 and 16 years to access social media, with legislation to be introduced before the end of November.

Children and parents would not face penalties.

“Instead, it will be incumbent on the platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to ensure fundamental protections are in place,” she told the summit.

Exemptions for social media platforms that demonstrate a low risk of harm to children are being considered.

The industry will have 12 months to adapt to any laws and changes introduced by the Federal Government.

AAP

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636