It is difficult to understand where the world is heading, led by the hand – as it is – by the fastest progression of technological innovations that Humanity has ever seen. Technological revolutions that, a century ago, took years to produce effects, now occur in weeks. The dizzying multiplication of Artificial Intelligence models is just one example of this.
This exponential progression of innovation and impact on populations – first in early adopterslike young people, and then the rest of the citizens – collides head on, painfully, with the linearity (not to say slowness) of the bodies that govern us. Any plans that a government wants to commission to understand and suggest lines of action to minimize these impacts will be obsolete even before the team of experts is chosen. But that is not a reason (nor an excuse) to refrain from taking action.
The Australian Government did not wait for a broader study on the impact of social networks on young people to pass a law to prevent people under 16 from having an account on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube or Reddit.
Yesterday, thousands of young Australians’ social media accounts began to be deleted by Meta. In the near future, the “blackout” could reach 150 thousand accounts on Facebook and 350 thousand on Instagram.
The measure did not pass without criticism. Although the Australian government has said the law aims to protect children and teenagers from harmful content and risks such as cyberbullying or grooming for sexual or religious purposes, several activists say that the ban is an attack on the rights of young people and will only throw them into Dark Webwhich will perhaps be even more dangerous.
In any case, it is painfully difficult to read about criminal practices against young people on the internet and about the behavior of teenagers themselves on these platforms and not think that it is unacceptable for governments to sit idly by. Someone had to take the first step and, I believe, several countries will follow, even if with different forms and content.
Perhaps because we live in the antipodes, we have great difficulty in associating Australia with a leadership role in public policies. But that’s how it has been. In 1856, South Australia (or South Australia) – one of the six states that would later form the country we know today – approved universal suffrage for all men. In 1894 he extended it to women, who could now be elected to Parliament. It was only more than 20 years later that this right would be enshrined in the United Kingdom or the United States. In Portugal, women’s vote was only fully implemented after April 25, 1974.
Sometimes you really need to look outside the box – or to the other side of the world – to realize that there are measures that progress cannot allow to be postponed.
Deputy Director of News Diary