Australia's New Social Media Regulations Put Childhood First

Jon Haidt · 10 Dec 2025 · afterbabel.com ↗

2 korrents from this piece

Jon Haidt did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Parents are caught in a collective-action trap over their children and social media, which only a rule binding on everyone can release them from.

Their wordsParents want this. They know social media can harm their children, yet many feel trapped because everyone else’s kids are already online.

Interesting
Our reading
An age limit on social media does not need perfect enforcement to work, because its job is to change the default rather than to stop every child.

Their wordsThe goal is not perfect enforcement. Some kids will still find workarounds. The goal is to shift the environment so children are not pressured into digital spaces they don’t want, simply to avoid being left out.

Interesting