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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is Awesome News Daily. I'm David Veach. Sharing stories, having you listen. What more can I ask for? Stories like this. This is a relatively interesting thing that's going on, and I did spend some time as a substitute teacher, so I saw some of the effects of social media and the use of phones in school. But this is uh this is a new thing. Australia's new social media law took effect on December 10th, 2025, raising the age to open or maintain social media accounts to the age of 16. It's a global first. The law called for the biggest social media platforms to do more than just ask for a birth date. Now they would be legally required to take responsibility for verifying and enforcing an age minimum. Half a year on, the world is watching closely. Are the restrictions working? Well, some critics and media outlets have prematurely concluded that the policy has failed. They point to early surveys showing that under 16 social media use has fallen only partially, and that most kids are still accessing social media. And they argue that age limits will never work, that these laws miss the real problem of harmful platform design, and that the countries considering following Australia, of which there are many, should reconsider. The truth is far more encouraging. There are several promising trends that other countries are now building upon, reflecting the importance of Australia's pioneering policies. It started with a relatively smooth rollout. All ten platforms took steps to verify users' age and remove accounts of those under 16. Now fewer kids in the land down under are using social media, and more than a dozen other countries, including Indonesia, Canada, Malaysia, the UAE, France, Spain, and the UK, are beginning their own journeys to rein in social media. The world is and should follow Ozzy's lead. And this came in just as I was getting ready to record this. Lawmakers in France gave the green light to a social media ban that could come into effect by the start of the new school year in September, becoming the first EU country to enact such a band. It looks like it's gonna happen. I don't know. Awesome news? Maybe. But this is Awesome News Daily. I'm David Beach. Thank you so much for listening. Have fun and go find a way to make someone's day.