6 December

From next week social media platforms are expected to take effective measures to ensure people under the age of 16 can’t have accounts. A great idea, it should be extended to all age groups to rescue our societies from US IT robber-barons, and the transformation of adult societies into high schools. But progress is progress, Australia one of the few countries willing to tell IT CEO kidults to fuck off. I’ve heard criticism of this initiative, saying ‘kids will find a way around it’. Most adults completely ignore speed limits when driving, I don’t see that as a reason not to have speed limits. I also like the way the government has placed the onus on these idiot platforms to comply, or face hefty penalties, rather than on users. Like the insidious tobacco industry, the social media companies will be worried about this, and strategising to undermine it. It will also flush out just how kidult much of the population is, for whom social media IS life. Lots of kicking and screaming at every step of shutting these toxic sewers down for good. And lots of people who think it’s just a nice way to share their social lives, not even realising that’s the bait in the bait-and-switch business models of these platforms. Google ‘enshittification’.