Jack Tame: The difficulty of regulating social media

It’s funny how becoming a parent instantly makes you care more about stuff.   

As a child, I used to find it really embarrassing when my Dad would yell out at cars that were driving too fast. Now, I’m that guy. Every time a car hoons up our street, I want to scream at the driver. Sometimes I do. 

“There are kids here, you tosser!” 

My values in education have very much sharpened since becoming parent. My views on kids and smart phones have only intensified. And as Australia’s world-leading ban on social media for under-16s comes into effect, I’m fascinated to see what’s going to happen. 

I really, really dislike social media. I think what was initially sold to the world as a way for people to connect has morphed into something far more cynical. The likes of Facebook know they maximise profits by keeping people scrolling. And while once upon a time when you were on Facebook or Instagram, you’d mainly be seeing pictures of your friends, the various platforms have all worked out that nothing keeps people scrolling for longer than making them really angry. For all of the relatively harmless accounts, cat videos, and people making creative or funny content, the net effect has been poisonous. The platforms that were meant to connect us have done the opposite. They have isolated and divided us.   

I said last year on this show that social media platforms should be subject to better regulation (not to mention proper taxation!) and that at the very least, we should be considering Australia’s social media stance. But for those of us who nerd out on public policy, the actual design of Australia’s legislation has underscored why this is such a tricky issue to legislate. 

It comes down to the definition: What is social media? Even though they can try and work to a common set of standards, ultimately someone needs to make a judgement call. So while Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have been banned, Discord doesn’t yet face the same restrictions. There are thousands of different platforms and sites where young people can still post and interact. YouTube has argued it isn’t social media at all. You can still access many videos without an account.  And Reddit is taking legal action arguing that its platform is totally different to many of the others. 

Teenagers are industrious. You try and play whack-a-mole and ban every new platform that pops up, but obviously some of them will find ways around the law, just as anyone who got their hands on alcohol or cigarettes before their 18th birthday will attest. But supporters of the law say that’s actually a good analogy. No one is suggesting the ban is going to stop every last kid from accessing social media. But it generally makes it more difficult.   

Truthfully, I don’t know how effective this law is going to be. I understand the impulse to want to protect children. I was a big supporter of banning phones in schools and I think unregulated social media has been disastrous. But this is super complex. I think the sensible thing for New Zealand to do is to take six months or a year. Learn from the Aussies, and then make a call. 

And even if we do act in the future, just as with booze or cigarettes, the state can only do so much. Easy to say this now, perhaps. Come back to me when my kids are a bit older! But the primary responsibility for keeping kids safe in the digital age cannot fall to governments or legislators... the responsibility is with us, parents. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
A'd be it's funny how becoming a parent instantly makes
you care more about stuff.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
There's a hot take if everything was one right, But
it's funny as a like as a kid. As a child,
I used to find it super embarrassing when my dad
would yell out at cars that were driving too fast.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
So, you know, would be standing on the side of
the street or walking to school or something and someone
would speed past and Dad would call out to them,
and I would think, oh, my goodness, shame. But now
I'm that guy. Right, every time a car hons up
our street, I want to scream at the driver, and
sometimes I do. There are kids here, you're tosser. My

(00:56):
values in education have very much sharpened since becoming a parent.
My views on kids and smartphones have only intense, and
as Australia's world leading ban on social media for under
sixteens comes into effect, I am fascinated to see what's
going to happen. For the record, I really really dislike

(01:21):
social media. I think what was initially sold to the
world as a way for people to connect has morphed
into something far more cynical and sinister. Honestly, the likes
of Facebook know that they maximize their profits by keeping
people scrolling. And while once upon a time when you

(01:42):
were on Facebook or Instagram you would mainly just be
seeing pictures of your mates, the various platforms have all
worked out that nothing keeps people scrolling for longer than
making them really, really angry. For all of the relatively
harmless accounts and cat videos or people making creative and
funny content, the net effect, I think has been poisonous.

(02:05):
The platforms that were meant to connect us have done
the opposite. They have isolated us. They've divided us. I
said last year on the show that social media platforms
should be subject to better regulation, not to mention better
or proper taxation, and at the very least we should
be considering something like Australia's social media starts. But for

(02:30):
those of us who nerd out on public policy, the
actual design of the Australian legislation, I think has underscored
why this is such a tricky issue to legislate and regulate.
And it comes down, I think, to the definition what
is social media? Even though they can try and work

(02:55):
to a common set of standards. Ultimately, someone needs to
make a judgment call. Right, that's how the Australian law works.
They've got a list of ten platforms that are subject
to the So while Instagram, Facebook and TikTok have been banned,
discord doesn't yet face the same restrictions. There are thousands
of different platforms nay hundreds of thousands, millions maybe on

(03:18):
the Internet where young people can still post and interact.
YouTube has argued that it isn't social media at all.
You can still access many videos without an account and
read It is taking legal action arguing that its platform
is totally different to many of the others. All of
us appreciate that teenagers are industrious. Right, you can try

(03:42):
and play whack a mole and ban every new platform
that pops up, but obviously some of them are going
to find ways around the law, just as anyone who
got their hands on alcohol or cigarettes before their eighteenth
birthday will attest. But supporters of the law say, actually
that is a pretty good analogy. No one is suggesting

(04:02):
that the ban is going to stop every last kid
from accessing social media, but it generally makes it more
difficult with the most popular platforms. Truthfully, I don't know
how effective this law is going to be. I don't know.

(04:23):
I understand the impulse to want to protect children. I
was a big supporter of banning phones and schools. I
think that unregulated social media has been disastrous, but this
is super, super complex. I think the sensible thing for
New Zealand to do is to wait, not forever, but

(04:44):
just take six months, take a year, learn from the Australians,
observe closely the unintended impacts of the law, what works
well and what doesn't, and then make a call. And
even if we do act in the future, just as
with booze or with cigarettes, truthfully, the state can only

(05:05):
do so much. And look, it's easy to say this now,
perhaps come back to me in five or ten years
or when my kids are a bit older, But the
primary responsibility for keeping kids safe in the digital age
cannot fall to governments or legislators. The responsibility is with
us parents.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks d B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.