Quick disclaimer: I'm making this video because I live in Australia, and the stuff I've seen over the past few months has got a lot of people talking. But I still don't think enough people know about what's going on, so I just wanted to spread some awareness about it all.

Right, so let's get into it. Hi, welcome to another episode of Cold Fusion. For the better part of a decade, we've all known about the negative impacts of social media on children and youth. To combat this, the Australian government has just introduced a bill to ban all children 16

or younger from social media. But is everything as it seems? Right now, there's discussion and massive vocal concerns for government privacy violations and even free speech. So this isn't just about the privacy or collecting data about kids; this is literally everybody's access to social media. That's how it has

to work, isn't it? Yes, in this episode, we'll explore what's in the bill, how it's going to work, and unfortunately how this could lead to a future can of worms. You are watching Cold Fusion TV. On the surface, this all sounds great. There's been internal studies by Meta

and a plethora of external studies confirming the negative effects of social media on kids. Randomized trials have been conducted where young participants were split into two groups: the control group who use social media normally and another group that reduced their social media usage for a few weeks. And what do

you know? The group who used social media less were less lonely and depressed. The synopsis to all of this is that a bit of social media use per day is healthy for kids, but after about an hour or so, it all goes downhill. Now in the mid-

2020s, for the first time, governments are doing something about it. The proposed bill in Australia will ban those under 16 from using social media. It's the strictest bill of its kind in the world. The ban will affect Meta apps like Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, X, and

even YouTube is likely to be included. In fact, YouTube sent me and presumably all other creators an email warning about the changes for creators. And Google would only notify creators like this if it's a serious issue. So what's in the law? As Reuters reports, the legislation

will include, quote, 'an age verification system to assist in blocking children from accessing social media platforms.' A number of countries have already vowed to curb social media use by children through legislation, though Australia's policy is one of the most stringent. The bill has the highest age limit of any

country, 16. And pre-existing accounts will be nuked. And there's also no exemption for parental consent. The ban appears to be a popular move. According to a 2024 UGV Australia survey, 61% of Australians polled support restricting access to social media to

those younger than the age of 17. Even the opposition party is in support. So the big question, how will this work? Well, Australia is trying two methods to determine who's under the age of 16. One method is to use a government ID, and the other method is by using

biometric data. We'll get to this can of worms later, but let's see what the Australian government has said. Australia's eSafety commissioner recommended a, quote, 'double-blind tokenized approach,' end quote. This means that information would be provided to a verifying third party, and that third

party would certify the user's age and give that information to the social media platforms anonymously. Under this system, the details about the child aren't going to be revealed. In a 2024 Australian e-safety commissioner report, they look to the EU for an extremely cutting-edge solution by using

cryptographic encryption for a so-called quote age Assurance token end quote, and these are anonymously stored on device or in an app. Another idea being talked about is to utilize user behavioral patterns. An algorithm will then determine the rough age of the user. Other options to filter and determine

age include facial scanning, either from a camera or in the form of an ID scan. And this is where the skepticism begins to build. So proponents do say that this will keep children safe, encourage them to live in the real world, and give them back the childhood that they were robbed

of, but there was an interesting moment during the prime minister's announcement of the bill during question time when asked, will Australians have to be prepared to scan their faces when using social media? The answer wasn't exactly straight. Should Australians be prepared for having their faces scanned to use

social media? Should they be prepared to upload their documents to some sort of government database that uh social media companies can tap into for age verification? I mean, what are the options here? As you said, the age Assurance trial hasn't hasn't been finalized yet. Well, this is exactly what the age

Assurance trial is informing, but let's be clear too: these platforms know their users better than anyone. These platforms understand their habits, their capabilities, what sort of content should be driven to them, and what their behaviors are. So in this year that we will take in terms of implementation

that will be the key focus uh and as the Prime Minister mentioned it's very important um to have privacy protections in place this is a complex area but it is one that we are determined to get right it's one that we are determined uh to implement because we know what's at

stake here interestingly on public TV when discussing the issue of the bill and face scanning for all Australians the answer is a straight no you're right this is the first country in the world to do this we should be proud of that I don't think we're going to be the last

you're saying the the tech companies have to come up with a plan to prove that they're not so is that facial recognition do you think no I don't think it will be but behind the scenes in the community legislation committee the answer seems to be yes

testing of using biometric information including facial age estimation and voice analysis take me through more details what that amounts to some of the products on the market that purport to do age assurance involve estimation using facial features voice analysis and other biometric information so that that

means like a 180° like you do for your face ID is that how that what that means not just a selfie it it yeah I can't speak with any details but there are um uh companies and tools on the market which purport to be able to accurately

estimate a child's age using things like facial features um proportion of bone allocation distance between eyes etc I mean there's there's a range of different um utilizing I should say machine learning and AI so people capabilities as age people with existing accounts people with existing

accounts, will they have to subject this, give this biometric information to keep their accounts? Like a 50-year-old have to do that where the platform doesn't already hold the age inference data that provides them that is constitutes a reasonable step. It is possible they will

be required to provide some further assurance. Thank you, Ken. And with that we come to the other side of the argument, on the other side of the aisle people argue that banning kids under 16 is just a thinly veiled attempt at mass surveillance. Um, of course, if you're testing to see if

someone's 13 or 14 or 15 or 16, you're also testing to see, um, by definition, if they're 16 and plus. So if there's going to be age verification, everybody is going to have to go through an age verification process, wouldn't they? Sure.

Yes, yes. So so this isn't just about the privacy or collecting data about kids. This is literally everybody accessing social media. That's how it has, has to work, isn't it? Yes. Digital rights activist Meredith Whitaker tells the Sydney Morning Herald, quote, "My God,

banning people under 16 from using social media will not work. It would basically be creating a system to monitor internet usage at a whole population scale because you can't know that somebody is over the age of 16 without checking everyone. End quote. And

this all comes to a head when Australia passed the Digital ID Bill of 2024, a national digital identity system. Australians became familiar with scanning QR codes during the COVID pandemic, but the government says this is different. This is something brand new and world leading. Labour says businesses will soon be able

to opt into a technology called Trust Exchange, or Tex, to verify a customer's identity, allowing personal information the government already has to be shared with the tap of a phone. Cyber experts have concerns about that record. If the government's involved in every transaction, then they have the potential

to know that I've gone to this hotel at this time. But the government says it won't be tracking how people use the technology. Australians would understandably want to be satisfied that the privacy issues have been thought through here, while entering the system as voluntary at this time, it wasn't

without opposition. The Labor government introduced legislation for a digital ID into the Senate last year and curiously it was passed without any debate being allowed, which should be a warning sign. Lisa Given from the Melbourne University RMIT speaks, quote, "Some people very cynically are saying the ban around

social media is just to push the government's decision to implement a digital ID system because if a ban comes into place and we say no one under the age of 16 can have access to a social media platform, that really means that every single user is going to have to

prove that they are over 16. So in the process they would have to join the digital ID system of the Australian government." End quote. And that's not all. The Australian government is rushing through a new bill that cracks down on misinformation, and that's misinformation

on subjects including elections and negative commentary about the economy or financial system. This bill does cover elections and political thought, clearly in violation even of the United Nations and the fact that elections, referendums, and we've just had one, public health preventative measures, and imminent harm

to the economy or financial markets are just some of the topics that will be covered uh by this bill. It's chilling whether you're progressive, whether you're conservative, whether you're from the left or right, we need to rise up and oppose this bill. The government's

function is not to regulate in a free society the content of people's minds. It isn't their role to arbitrate over the free thought and free expression and free speech of people. And you're getting that from every quarter of Australian politics and Australian society in

opposition to this bill. It's universal. There is no support for this bill, and even the United Nations have said this would be a violation of the right to free speech. With all of that context now, you can see what why some Australians are raising an eyebrow about the timing

of all of this. And just a last minute update to all of this, as I was making this episode, the misinformation bill was so heavy-handed and authoritarian that not one member of the Opposition signed off on it. A bill aimed at cracking down on misinformation and disinformation on the

internet has been pulled by the federal government. The bill failed to gain support in the Senate, with the Greens and Coalition against it. So thankfully Australians can breathe easy knowing that the misinformation bill has been scrapped. Of course, there's still the digital ID issue, but the craziest thing

is no one voted for this, and there's not even any debate. But let's move on to other concerns about the banning of kids. Others think that the legislation could just backfire altogether. There's a possibility that young people would just use alternative apps in secret. There

could be an Australian youth exodus from apps like TikTok, YouTube, and Meta apps, and a migration to those apps that aren't included in the ban like Rumble, Kick, and even more obscure apps. These apps are more often the wild west and could lead impressionable teens down an

even darker path. Another form of backfiring could come from a lack of peer support. Social media may have many negatives, but it's also where young people go to find each other and find people going through similar things to connect. We're just not sure of the

impact taking that away could have. And others still say that it really should be a responsibility of the parents or that these measures should be done at an app store level even before the kids get to the login screen of a social media page. And after all of this fuss, the ban

may not be effective. Critics state that a simple VPN could bypass the Australian ban, rendering it useless. Of course, this depends on the final implementation, but from what's proposed so far, the ban might have loopholes and may not work unless it's worldwide. So what's

next? Well, the legislation will be introduced into the Australian Parliament this year, and the laws will come into effect 12 months after being passed by lawmakers. Another update to this story: the under-16 social media ban bill has officially been passed. The talk in the media now seems to be around

forcing social media companies to come up with solutions in collaboration with the Australian government. The public doesn't know how this ban is going to be implemented, and at this rate, I doubt the government does either. So we're all just going to have to wait and see. So all in all, this is the way I look

at it the social media ban comes from a great place everyone can agree that we want to protect kids online but we should ask ourselves is this really the best way to do it Parents should be the first line of defense not the government even though it's a noble cause I do have

concerns over its effectiveness and the glaring potential for abuse by the Australian government but that's just my opinion What do you guys think Feel free to let me know in the comment section below Also feel free to send this to anyone who would be

interested You know when you look at the social media bill in more detail it doesn't seem very logical does it But something that definitely is logical is brilliant.org Brilliant is where you learn by doing with thousands of interactive lessons and maths science data analytics programming and AI They

have courses on logic which teach you how to think logically in a fun and entertaining way Each lesson on brilliant allows you to play with concepts a method proven to be six times more effective than watching lecture videos Plus all content on brilliant is

crafted by teachers researchers and professionals from MIT Caltech Duke Microsoft Google and more Learn at your own pace to brush up on a project for work or just for your own self-development and curiosity To try everything brilliant has to offer for a full 30

days visit brilliant.org/coldfusion You'll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription Anyways that's about it from me My name is Diego and you have been watching Cold Fusion and I'll catch you again soon for the next episode Cheers guys have a good one

[Music] Cold fusion. It's me thinking. [Music]

Australia's Insane Social Media Ban

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Australia's Insane Social Media Ban

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