By Renee Chopping, Trauma Counsellor and Collective Shout Campaigner

A supporter alerted us to Zepeto after an Instagram post warning parents about serious risks for kids. Rated for ages 12+, Zepeto – a “social networking” app – is available on Apple app store and Google Play.

We were pleased to contribute to the Statutory Review of the Online Safety Act 2021 in June 2024. It was one of 10 submissions we made in a record breaking year in which we also achieved 34 victories!

*CONTENT WARNING*

In a flip-flop ruling, Instagram has pulled a child sex abuse doll seller’s account. At first, Instagram told us they did NOT remove the account because it did not go against their Community Guidelines. So we took to X to show exactly how it DID breach parent company Meta’s terms of service which prohibit publication of child exploitation material and content which sexualises children.

By Tahlia Perry

Can we please take a minute to pause, quieten the white noise and celebrate an amazing win for Australian parents, children and young people?

Last night, the Federal Parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024. This means that in 12 months’ time my child and young people across Australia will have one barrier in place to keep them safer online.

Is this Bill a silver bullet? No, but it never claimed to be.

There are a few claims being made - even on our socials - that are critical of the Government's Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024.

We want to correct them.

‘Australia’s social media age minimum will reduce the online harms that are affecting young people…And it will stop social media companies from continuing to use predatory business practices to take advantage of vulnerable young people’

Andrew Leigh, MP, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasuries and Employment and member for Fraser, ACT, has written a significant essay explaining the rationale behind the Government’s move to implement raising the age of access to social media to 16, which we have supported. The essay was published by Jonathan Haidt, prominent social psychologist and author of the best-seller ‘The Anxious Generation’, on Substack yesterday. We thought it warranted an even wider audience so have extracted some key elements here. You can find the full piece here: (subscriber only – but you can sign up to Haidt’s ‘After Babel’ newsletter for free – here.