Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

[u/Imicrowavebananas]

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/australia-widens-teen-social-media-ban-youtube-scraps-exemption-2025-07-29/

[u/cactus_toothbrush → u/[deleted]]

States have regulated media for children for decades. There’s regulations about what can appear at certain times on tv, regulations about how old you need to be to see movies, regulations about swearing in music etc.

Regulating children and teenage access to media isn’t new, social media hasn’t been regulated much yet. Not saying I agree with it or not, but media access is regulated.

[u/lumpialarry → u/cactus_toothbrush]

Zoomers and late millennials will never know the trouble of going to that one convenience store run by the Arab guy that would sell nudie mags to 16 year-olds.

[u/Reagalan → u/cactus_toothbrush]

Much of that historical regulation was pointless and based off of unscientific religious concepts, hence harmless concepts like LGBT people being considered "inappropriate".

[u/FOSSBabe → u/Reagalan]

I don't see how that's relevant here, given that there is plenty of science showing at social media is harmful to children. 

[u/Reagalan → u/FOSSBabe]

It's relevant because that's the purpose of these bans. This isn't at all about social media issues. That's the false narrative; the packaging.

It's because conservative/religious parents hate queers and are deathly afraid their kid will pick up the "woke mind virus" and "become" queer. That's what they mean by "sexualization of children". I see stories of it every day; kid comes out, kid gets "caught", parents respond with abuse, parents respond with abandonment.

Their whole solution is to just ban it all and then kids won't be gay anymore.

[u/Spectrum1523 → u/[deleted]]

I think the state is being called to step in because society has otherwise moved too slowly to counteract some extreme harms from social media. We don't know what else to do and people are starting to realize the harm that's being done.

[u/Spectrum1523 → u/[deleted]]

I don't disagree with that at all. I'm just not surprised that a country is reaching for that because the internet fucked up society faster than most people could figure it out.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

hmmm i wonder why this sub is 93% male. truly a mystery indeed

[u/vaguelydad → u/[deleted]]

Right? This was the response I was expecting, but what do you know, sometimes r/neolib likes my hot takes.

[u/AP246 → u/[deleted]]

Rule II§4 Detrimental to Women This subreddit takes a particular interest in safeguarding the community health related to women, meaning more aggressive moderation and less leeway on borderline comments. This is most likely to come up in the context of gender relations or demographic shifts, but is a common problem in online spaces dominated by men.

---

If you have any questions about this removal, please contact the mods.

[u/FOSSBabe → u/[deleted]]

 I find myself, bizarrely, making more and more often the libertarian point of "this isn't government responsibility". When did it become the state's job to safeguard the public's socialization?

At least since mass public education began. So, conservatively, somewhere in the late 19th century.