Thursday, 14 November 2024

Social media age limits

Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:13): When you are 15 you are legally able to do almost any job here in Victoria. When you are 15 you can get your own Medicare card. When you are 15 you can become eligible for youth allowance. When you are 15 you can go and watch an MA 15+ movie. When you are 15 you have been considered old enough to be criminally responsible for several years already, and you can go to prison. When you are 15, according to Taylor Swift, when somebody tells you they love you, you are going to believe them.

But if the Labor government have their way, when you are 15 you will not be able to use Instagram, you will not be able to use YouTube and you will not be able to go on TikTok. If you are 15, under Labor’s plan, you will be cut off your friends and the communities you have found. For marginalised people, that likely means cutting them off from their lifelines. If you are 15, you know Labor’s plan to ban social media will not work.