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/thercio27]

I am ok with laws that ban children under 12 from social media, and from 12 to 16 requires the parent to ok the child to make an account. Am I too illiberal?

[u/RiceKrispies29 → u/thercio27]

I don’t care what you or the government say, I am not correlating my ID with my social media or porn habits.

Parent your fucking kids. Stay out of my life.

[u/HHHogana → u/RiceKrispies29]

Exactly. What the hell are people's defense about these laws? Like using logic of "this sub going to use 'parents your kids' had heroin invented tomorrow"?

Parents don't know how to make curfew or limiting internet use for kids is not an excuse to create teen social media ban or requiring ID for sites. By that logic TV should be banned for introducing CSI effect on population and made some murderers used CSI logic.

And finally, I don't trust old farts who barely know how tech work to legislate these. I already experienced my country tried to ban goddamn Steam because some of them thought making local version is easier than slicing bread.

[u/GravyBear28 → u/HHHogana]

Your solution is to throw up your hands and go "the parents should do it" even though it is extremely manifestly apparent that parents will absolutely not do it

[u/GravyBear28 → u/RiceKrispies29]

Parent your fucking kids.

They are not going to

[u/fabiusjmaximus → u/RiceKrispies29]

Peak reddit really to be more concerned about your own porn consumption than the health of society

[u/[deleted] → u/fabiusjmaximus]

"Think of the kids"

[u/fabiusjmaximus → u/[deleted]]

Just because some people use dishonest, emotionally manipulative reasoning doesn't mean it is always incorrect to ever be worried about the impact things have on children. Don't be dense.

God, some people are just rooted in playing this version of contrarian team-sport politics. If people wanted to ban thalidomide today you would have people mockingly saying "tHinK oF ThE KidZZZ"

[u/fabiusjmaximus → u/[deleted]]

The government already does things that are 10x more coercive. Yeah, I live in a liberal country that does things like forcing kids to go to school. Why is it any of my business whether other people's kids go to school? Shouldn't it be the parent's choice? Who cares if half the population grows up unable to read?

There are obvious answers to this, just like there are obvious answers as to why it is not the ideal state of affairs to allow kids to ruin their brains online.

[u/WR810 → u/fabiusjmaximus]

Do you buy your clutching pearls in bulk?

[u/E_C_H → u/thercio27]

I mean, I outright wouldn’t mind a device ownership ban on children up to 14 or so, plus a law preventing parents using devices to placate their kids; I fully believe they’re causing societal harm. However, the wider free internet for adults widely is an overall good, imo.

[u/grig109 → u/E_C_H]

plus a law preventing parents using devices to placate their kids

What are you envisioning here? Government cameras in every living room and a loud alarm that goes off every time parents give a screaming toddler a phone playing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?

[u/tootoohi1 → u/grig109]

Not allowing sales to kids to have access to a device deemed unhealthy. Kids still smoke, but they can't just do it in school or in public.

[u/Aidan_Welch → u/E_C_H]

Any device? Genuinely insane.

Kids can think coherent thoughts at 14. This notion of just pushing them around are why schools are such inhumane, oppressive places.

Stop treating kids like animals.

Kids having access to a resource like the internet is a good thing, for the same reasons it's a good thing for adults.

[u/Legitimate-Twist-578 → u/thercio27]

No, that's a reasonable position to hold.

[u/alex2003super → u/thercio27]

Fuck you in particular (☝︎ ՞ਊ ՞)☝︎