James Baker
E-safety commissioner in Australia is upset their isn’t a system to snitch on teens who are on social media. Wanting children to be safe is a reasonable thing but it isn’t healthy or normal behaviour to want a society where people report each other for being on social media. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4181pkxl2o
Apr 1 at 10:08pmWeb
Show thread⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️2d ago
@JamesBaker that last point appears to be because a platform said "prove your the kids parent" before turning off an account because some random on the Internet asked them too, which is nuts
Show threadKat S2d ago

@JamesBaker Gee, I wonder where they might be trying to steer the culture through encouraging people to denounce each other to the authorities.

Yep, looks absolutely focused on the wellbeing of kids from here.

Show thread2trax2d ago

@KatS

@JamesBaker

I read that as a complaint that the platforms are not providing an easy route for users to report suspected under age accounts to the platform itself, rather than reporting it to an AUS authority? A bit like reporting unacceptable content or other breaches.

Not sure if that makes it any better...

Show threadJames Baker1d ago
@2trax @KatS Yes that’s how I read it. Encouraging a culture of reporting on your neighbour or another person simply for being on social media seems depoly authoritarian. Like something out of Eastern Germany during the Cold War.
Show threadFernsby20h ago

@JamesBaker Many will just seek to alternative options rather than use traditional social media which can have the opposite effect of pushing teens into the dark web or other unmonitored spaces outside of government jurisdiction.

More commonly they'll just a VPN to bypass it honestly, having this snitching system really wouldn't do anything aside from making it appear more authoritarian than it actually is.