If you were wondering what an eSafety boss is:

Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner

Politics across the globe have been playing catch-up with digital realities for so long, it's embarrassing. Only now they're waking up to Facebook & Co, while new shit* pops up all the time, but again and again they believe that restricting a few platforms is the solution.

We need a whole new approach. One that involves politicians listening to actual experts instead of pollsters, I guess. What a mess.

* ways to seriously abuse internet users into giving up more data and create more ad revenue for content creators, platform owners, software developers companies. Even babies nowadays (if their parents let them watch that). [edit: yes, that's about youtube, but also about AI if you watch closer. Point is, it's not just one platform, it's content producers putting revenue over content & ethical concerns, since nobody tells them where to stop]

CIA plant wants Australian children to only watch broadcast television and not access the internet until they're 16.

No Youtube, No Netflix, No Fortnite - Broadcast TV only.

What’s scary is that limiting kids access to social media sites that promote algorithmic content is controversial. Of course kids shouldn’t be on YouTube. There are great streaming alternatives that are suitable for kids, ABC’s iView in Australia, BBC’s iPlayer in the UK, etc.

it's funny. my kids are sweet and usually really polite. after an hour or two of unrestricted access to YouTube kids, they become unbearable selfish little fuckwads that yell and scream and kick.

so, we banned YouTube except for specific content we download and limited to 15 minutes once a week. now they're nice sweet polite kids again.

YouTube is cancer to kids development. if you have problems with your kids, I'd recommend looking at how much screen time they get with YouTube or toxic games.

You don't need the law to do that, you need a weekend of brushing up on router operation

I do need the law to step in and do that because my kids are influenced by other kids where parents don't give a shit. I've seen plenty of kids act like little fuckheads. guess what, it's all the kids in stable or wealthy families. all the poor kids don't have access to those platforms outside of school.

social media and online media has been linked with so many detriments for developing children that it's no worse than allowing kids to smoke or drink alcohol.

if parents can't be trusted to identify the dangers and take action, regulation of the problem is merited.

ABC Kids is great if you've only got kids under 5.

It just stays on all day, it's generally all good content (except the petulant Peppa Pig)

But if you've got kids a bit older than that - your options are none and none. ABC really doesn't do programming for schoolage and teenage kids anymore.

Right now for example - 5:54PM Adelaide Time, we've got Kangaroo Beach followed by Octonauts on ABC Kids, great for the under 5s.

But the rest of the channels of ABC are... Antiques Roadshow and ABC News... There is programming for under 5s and over 60s. Nothing inbetween.

I don't think the internet is more impervious to propaganda than cable TV tbh. YouTube has been pushing far-right propaganda since at least 2013. Quite effectively, too.

'Cable TV' (ie. Foxtel, Newscorpse's own) is extremely expensive and only the very wealthy get it.

The vast majority of Australian households have Free-to-Air only. Which is the 3 major commercial networks (7- SevenWest Media, 9 -Fairfax and 10 -CBS/Paramount), ABC (State owned broadcaster) and SBS (semi-state owned, allowed to run advertisements, caters to foreign language broadcasting)

Do you have access to Kanopy through your local library? It's an online streaming platform with decent content.

You get my meaning. I was referring to Broadcast TV, as you called it.

It's a bit of a sticking point in Australia which is becoming more and more of a 'two-speed' society. Foxtel is for the rich classes, it caters to the right wing. Sky News is on Foxtel.

These eSafety directives killing access to youtube won't affect those rich kids so much, but for everyone else it's going to be a nightmare.

My only possible hope out of this is that maybe, Parliament and ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority, TV standards) decide that since we need a greater media landscape for kids and they can't be allowed to have it online, that maybe more than 3 major broadcasters could be allowed.

It's not a lack of will that stops anyone else making a new free-to-air network, it's legislation, there are only allowed to be 3 commercial FTA broadcasters in any area.

I don't love Youtube or the kids watching it, it's that the alternatives are almost objectively worse. 10 and 7 and garbage 24/7 and 9 is basically a right-wing hugbox too.