Instead of a blanket ban on social media for under 16-year-olds, listening to young peoples’ ideas about how to tackle the harm would be more effective.

A US study for the National Bureau of Economic Research released in late April found that some three quarters of young people aged 14 and 15 are finding ways around the Australian Government’s social media ban. Any policy facing 75 per cent non-compliance is going to struggle and could frustrate other efforts to counter the harms that social media can cause.

There is evidence that extensive social media use can have harmful impacts. In March, two juries in the United States decided that technology companies are liable for damaging the health of young users of their platforms. In Los Angeles, a 20-year-old woman successfully sued Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, and YouTube. She argued the tech giants designed their platforms with addictive features that targeted teens and children. A jury awarded her $3 million on 25 March. Just days later, a New Mexico jury found that Meta had violated state consumer protection law, by failing to safeguard minors from online sexual predators and misleading the public about its safety. The jury ordered the company to pay $375 million in........

© Pearls and Irritations