Task 1 – CMN276

It is a well-known fact or theory that no matter the country you live in the government checks and regulates the social media platforms that we use daily. In this economy, social media is one of organisations biggest methods of advertising. Now, this does depend on their target audience, however platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook are often used to attract a buyer or future consumer. Because of this, there are a lot of restrictions and plans put in place so that certain ranges of users get certain content, it is also things such as this that make these platforms need an age restriction, which was created by government roles. This blog was made to delve into some of these theories with evidence, to see what our government regulates and watches on our social media platforms.

The Implementation of the online safety act: It is a legislation that makes sure that online services in Australia are held accountable for any harmful or inappropriate content that they publish. It was created to improve the safety of social media users, so that if any online abuse were to occur and be reported, it would empower the eSafety commissioner to take action and sort the issues as soon as possible.

Tacking gaps in the current framework: The Australian Government is planning on taking immediate action on a range of harmful online behaviors that would not be spotted using the Online Safety Act. They will also develop digital and media products to show school students what not to do when using online platforms, these presentations would include online hate speech, misinformation and disinformation, scams, gambling-like content in online games, and online dating safety.

Cross-government coordination on online harms: Successfully addressing online harms requires a cross-portfolio effort across the Australian Government. The Albanese Government will take steps to ensure policy is coordinated across those portfolios with responsibility for regulating digital platforms and addressing online harms, as well as regulating the information and engagement to the public is up to date.

These three laws were implemented to ensure all Australians safety online when they’re using online platforms such as social media. The real question is just how much these new methods are actually helping and changing the way online users act.

Recently the government put out a new law that means that younger audiences of a certain age group are not allowed to use social media platforms such as Instagram, snap chat, TikTok, etc. However, three months after the social media ban, young people under 16 are still on these platforms, adapting quickly to restrictions that haven’t changed how they spend their time online. The only thing that has changed is that the government has implemented age checks, new prompts appear as young people log on, and a law designed to limit their access, but this doesn’t change how the platforms operate. This means that people of a younger age are able to adapt quickly and trick the systems instead of abiding by what the government has set in place.

Below is a YouTube Video providing more information of both topics mentioned:

Throughout this blog post I have spoken about what the Australian government has tried to do in order to make our online platforms safe for its users, however as we have all probably noticed, none of these laws and methods have actually changed much about how these medias operate. People are still able to abuse the systems and therefore young audiences are being exposed to inappropriate behaviours, how do you think the government can change this now after multiple attempts?