The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and so is the road to a potential surveillance state.
TikTok is now one step closer to an outright ban in the country after losing a high-profile case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Appeals last week.
If the Chinese-owned app doesn't find a political ally in the incoming Trump administration (or a new domestic owner) by January 19, its 170 million U.S. users will soon be turned away. No more scrolling sessions or stupid viral stunts will be available.
While many may see the Biden administration's actions as overreach, banning TikTok would provide a step many American parents have been crying out for: limiting social media for their children.
The negative impact of predatory algorithms on young people has become as clear as the link between smoking and lung cancer.
Last year, the US Surgeon General warned the public young people involved in “Using social media for more than three hours a day doubles the risk of experiencing poor mental health, including symptoms of depression and anxiety.”
But protecting children from Silicon Valley (and China) isn't as simple as banning cancerous apps. That is a reality that is now being demonstrated in Australia.
Late last month, the Land Down Under passed a landmark bill that would completely ban social media for under-16s.
New rules will push TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram into the Barbie doll and impose fines of up to A$50 million (about $33 million) on these companies for failing to restrict their content to children. .
Parents welcomed the legislation, with a poll showing 77 per cent of Australians approved of the government's new rules. In theory, I think so too. I immigrated to Australia from the US in 2022 and am now the father of a bright blue Aussie Roo. Like many parents, my wife and I began planning our approach to family “screen time” when we were pregnant. It seems like a world where scrolling isn't an option at all would be better.
Unfortunately, Australia's 'fair dinkum' (or, ironically, political) attempts to persuade parents like me are not as simple as they seem. And they won't be in the US either.
“I think a lot of parents are struggling,” says Lisa Given, an information scientist at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. “They are watching [the ban] Because the government is trying to do something. But in the end, the question is, “How do we police this?” “
In fact, no one knows how Australia's ban will actually work once it begins next year. All social media users may now be required to log on using a government-issued ID such as a driver's license (though the government says it won't require this).
Or worse, perhaps even more likely, social media companies will start using facial recognition or biometrics to verify users' ages (although initial reports suggest this approach) Success rates are lower for non-white children).
The third approach is “pattern recognition.” Track your overall internet activity to infer your age. This would require a high level of general internet monitoring, opening the door to privacy issues a la mode. Welcome to China.
“If you're looking at it as a way to protect children from harm, I don't think it's going to be successful,” Given said. “Many children still have access to content, whether they use technological workarounds like VPNs or shared devices within the home. . . . What we need to do is things like image-based abuse, and we need to target algorithms.”
And of course, where there's a will, there's a way. Teens still find ways to vape, secretly drink, and make dank memes.
It is hard to believe that this ban is not, in some sense, a scam to monitor and censor all Australians' internet activity. Even if it doesn't, this ban leaves the door wide open to government prying eyes.
Even worse, we already know there's a better way. Technology companies have the ability to change their algorithms to not force negative content to be served to users.
But they won't unless the government, the U.S. government, forces them to do so.
Otherwise, it's business as usual, more greed than good. Sorry, Australia, a dingo ate your baby.
