Australian social media ban started with call to act by politician's wife
Hindustan Times* Australian social media ban started with call to act by politician's wife Australia passes nationwide social media ban for under-16s * Ban sparked by state premier's quest after wife urged him to act * Rupert Murdoch's News Corp media campaign backed ban * Survey shows 77% of Australians support social media ban By Byron Kaye SYDNEY, - Since Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen aired internal emails in 2021 showing the tech giant knew of social media's mental health impacts on teenagers, world leaders have agonised over how to curb the technology's addictive pull on young minds. "I remember precisely the moment that she said to me 'you've got to read this book and you've got to do something about it'," South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas told reporters in Adelaide on Friday, a day after the country's federal parliament passed a nationwide social media ban for youths under 16. An Australian government YouGov survey found that 77% of Australians back the under-16 social media ban, up from 61% in August prior to the government's official announcement. In May, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the country's biggest newspaper publisher, began an editorial campaign to ban children under 16 from social media, calling "Let Them Be Kids".