The most powerful influencer in Australia isn’t a teenager on TikTok. It is an institution that can regulate what others say, spend hundreds of millions promoting its own messages, subsidise parts of the information industry, define what it believes is in the public interest – and send you the bill.
Opposition communications spokesperson Sarah Henderson calls it a “serious threat to free speech”, while coalition leader Angus Taylor says he is “deeply skeptical” and that he fears it is going to be an attempt to “censor social media”.
Winston named it. ACT walked. Chippy just became Luxon’s extra vote.
PILLAR has consistently advocated for a Digital Bill of Rights approach that prioritises parental empowerment, digital literacy, education, targeted enforcement against genuinely illegal content, and privacy-respecting tools over broad government controls.
Because the governments and newspapers of those countries had lied so many times, the people lived in a fantasy world. That is unfortunately where many Americans are stuck are now. They feel they cannot believe anything.
We need to save childhood without destroying adult freedom.
The impossible challenge of piercing a special kind of darkness.
Although it is reasonable to age-gate activities such as smoking, drinking and driving, to compare such restrictions to social media age restrictions is a false equivalency driven by far more insidious intentions.
Hasten slowly on social media restrictions.
A railway driver is dead. A friend of mine is recovering from multiple broken bones. Other staff have been through something that may stay with them for years. These are the things that matter to me. The colour of a profile picture doesn’t. Neither does the performance of grief on social media.
Why this should worry us more than the platforms themselves.
