Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
Amanda: Since 2014, prescriptions of antidepressants for children aged 12 to 17 have increased by more than 70 per cent. Self-harm hospitalisations for young people have increased, particularly for girls aged 14 and younger, doubled in the last decade. The reasons for this are varied and complex, but we do know that social media is a big part of the problem. Well, now the Assistant Minister for Mental Health, David Coleman, is proposing a new privacy measure or a series of new privacy measures for kids. He joins us now to explain all of this. Hello Minister
Coleman: Good morning, Amanda.
Jonesy: G'day Minister.
Coleman: Hi Jonesy
Amanda: So tell us about this new online privacy bill that you're working on and you've released.
Coleman: So we know from history that we can't rely on social media to act in the best interests of kids, it's very clear. So what we're going to do is force them to do that. So we're creating a new law in Australia where social media companies must act in the best interests of children. And if they don't, they can get fined up to 10 per cent of their entire Australian revenue, which for some of these companies is tens of millions of dollars. So really big change in the future, if they don't act in the best interests of kids they will be breaking the law.
Amanda: And what do you mean by acting in the best interests of kids? How are they not doing that?
Coleman: Yeah I'll give you an example. So let's say you've got a young kid who's on social media and maybe is showing some insecurity about body issues, might be following a whole lot of, you know, glamorous celebrities or whatever. What these social media platforms will do on occasion is send that child to content which is very dangerous for them. It might be extreme dieting content, it might be content about eating disorders. It might be, on some occasions, send them to content about self-harm. It's completely unacceptable that that happens. The social media companies are the most sophisticated users of data in the world when they're trying to sell ads, and what we're saying is you're going to have to use that same sophisticated technology to protect kids. It's obviously not in their best interest to be directing children to that sort of content.
Jonesy: And what we're seeing now, and I guess is the bigger picture, is the silo of information that people get. So if you've got like an anti-lockdown type person or an anti-vaccination person and they've got their own, say Instagram page, all those other people will join on there. So that silo of information is not broad, it's just for whoever followers that they have, but they're spreading misinformation.
Coleman: Yeah and that sort of thing can happen when it comes to kids as well. So you can have a child that, you know, maybe they joined social media initially for, you know, funny dances or whatever. But then over time, the algorithm learns about them or learns about what they're interested in and will often send them to stuff that is really bad for them. And it's been going on for at least a decade. The social media companies have had ample time to fix this issue. They haven't done it. It's totally unacceptable and we're going to change it. So the legislation that we released a couple of weeks ago, it's out for public comment now and anyone who wants to comment on it can, and then our intention is to legislate it through parliament early next year.
Amanda: And one of the big things too, is to make sure that they've taken every step they can to verify that someone is over the age of 16.
Coleman: Yeah, that's right, Amanda. So historically, the social media companies have said when it comes to verifying age, you know it's all too hard, which has been very convenient for them because if it's all too hard it means they can continue to service underage kids. What we're saying here is that no that's not okay, you're very sophisticated in identifying data and identifying the profile of the users, and you're going to have to identify kids who are under age. Facebook has recently said, after years of saying this was all too hard, they've actually identified 600,000 underage kids on Instagram and removed them from Instagram. So it can be done. It's just that I haven't done it. This law is going to require them to do it, and again, the fine is a lot more than a slap on the wrist, it's up to 10 per cent of their total Australian revenue.
Jonesy: And it seems to me that it's all upside. Is there a downside to any of this? Are we encroaching on free speech, as some people might say?
Coleman: I don't believe so at all. I mean, I think when it comes to children, there is a very high obligation on the part of government and society in general to protect them. We know we've seen very concerning trends in kids' mental health and while social media isn't the only factor, it is absolutely a factor. And so we should always lean forward when it comes to protecting kids. I mean, I think there are a lot of families out there that have had very concerning experiences with their kids on social media. The social media companies are very good at ducking and weaving and pointing to things that they say they're doing. But the bottom line is they haven't fixed this problem. And, you know, the Government is sick of it, I'm sick of it, I think the community is sick of it.
Amanda: Absolutely.
Coleman: And we're going to change it.
Jonesy: And they can have a say about this as well.
Amanda: Yeah, how do we do that?
Coleman: Yeah. So if you go to the website, consultations.ag.gov.au and on that site, it explains the information about the law and anyone can comment. So you know, it doesn't have to be an academic or expert so to speak. We want to hear from the community. We want to hear from families who've been affected by this issue. You can comment anonymously if you like, or if you're happy for your contribution to be published, you can do that too. But yeah, we want to hear from people, because we think this is a really important law. It's going to be a significant change and we want to get as much community input as we can.
Jonesy: Well, thank you Minister. Minister David Coleman there. Head to consultations.ag.gov.au. Thank you for joining us.
Jonesy: Thanks guys. Thanks for your time.
