Legislation raising the social media citizenship age in Australia from 13 to 16 is “definitely doable,” according to Rob Galluzzo, CEO of production company Finch and co-founder of the 36 Months campaign, with Michael “Wippa” Wipfli, host of the Nova 96.9 breakfast show “Fitzy and Wippa”.
Speaking to B&T, Galluzzo said that the government’s decision to create legislation on the topic was “validating”.
However, he cautioned that lobbying from social media firms was set to be “ridiculous” as they tried to undermine the feasibility of the law.
He also said that the government’s failure to understand that social media harming children is not a “tech” or “communications” issue but a “health” issue, could see it not treated with the seriousness it deserves.
“There is more than one way to ensure age-gating and age-thresholding. It’s actually a very simple adjustment to current legislation,” he told B&T after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised last week that the federal government would be pursuing a legislative change.
“We’ve been very clear with the government about the language that we believe needs changing — it needs to be very specific,” Galluzzo, who serves on the Cairns Crocodiles Advisory Board, added.
Albanese said the government was looking at the age range between 14 and 16, but he personally preferred a “higher limit”.
“What we’re looking at is how you deliver it,” Albanese told ABC News Breakfast.
“We know that it’s not simple and it’s not easy. Otherwise, governments would have responded before.”
Galluzzo, meanwhile, said that while raising the age of social media citizenship was “doable” it would not be possible to completely shut off social media for all children under 16 — but that this shouldn’t deter legislators.
“To be totally candid, there is a way around this with VPNs. Anyone can get around anything with a VPN because it won’t know that you’re in the country — just like accessing an illegal gambling site. But only 25 per cent of Australians have a VPN, not even use, but have one downloaded. Remember the job of this is to give cover to parents. Even if you use a VPN, you’ll still be able to see if your child has built a social media profile and it still is illegal — so parents and family can have a recourse.
“The lobbying that will go on with the social media networks is just ridiculous and they’ll say ‘How will we do it? It’s too difficult, it’s unworkable.’ It’s like alcohol. Kids can go and get a fake ID or get a parent or a cousin to buy them alcohol but that doesn’t mean that you should be drinking at 13, it doesn’t mean that you should say it’s OK and it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t set a rule to try to protect kids.
Quoting marketing professor Scott Galloway, Galluzzo said:
“What’s more challenging, figuring out if someone is younger than 16 or building a global, real-time communication network that stores a near-infinite amount of text, video and audio retrievable by billions of simultaneous users in milliseconds with 24/7 uptime? The social media giants know where you are, what you’re doing, how you’re feeling and if you’re experiencing suicidal ideation… but they can’t figure out your age. You can’t make this shit up. Teenagers are idiots. I have proof as I’m raising two and used to be one. My job as their dad is to be their prefrontal cortex until theirs’ show up.”
“This is a health issue,” continued Galluzzo.
“Up until today, the government has been looking at this like a communications or a cyber issue. What we’re pushing now and the game-changer it had last week is that this isn’t just a cyber issue and for sure it lives in comms but this lives more in health.”
Albanese, for his part, echoed this sentiment in his conversation with ABC News.
“Parents are worried sick about this,” he said.
“We know they’re working without a map. No generation has faced this challenge before.
“The safety and mental and physical health of our young people is paramount.
“Parents want their kids off their phones and on the footy field. So do I.”
Galluzzo said that while he and Wipfli were “very aligned” with Albanese it would be beneficial for everyone if children put phones down and started playing more sports, it was only a small part of the potential upside.
For instance, he said that young people getting jobs were an indicator of “healthy self-esteem” and a “sense of empowerment”.
Here, he believes brands have an important role to play in galvanising kids into action. He added that it would be a “wonderful way to show up” for brands.
“Think about things like WWF or Tarango Zoo. Think where they could find moments of self-esteem and compassion development for kids,” he said.
Currently, the federal government is trialling several methods to verify the age of people accessing social networks and adult sites. Its latest phase involves testing tools to prevent children from accessing porn, and teenagers between 13 and 16 from accessing social media sites.
As the trial progresses, companies will be invited to participate in a consultation process. The legislation will give the government the power to enforce such a limit in future, once the trial is completed.
