Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner: Keep kids away from social media until they are ready

The Interview

BBC

News, Politics, Government

4.3 • 537 Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Katy Watson speaks to Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner about the country’s social media ban for under 16s: “To keep kids away until they're ready, I think that is the monumental circuit breaker move that we need to move to,” she says.

Brought up in Seattle, North America Julie has spent her career in the technology sector working for Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe in public policy and safety before moving into government. She moved to Australia more than 25 years ago and from 2017 Julie has been working on online safety. In her role as commissioner she has become the target of free speech absolutists like Elon Musk, wh have accused of her trying to censor the internet.

No stranger to controversy and abuse, she’s now the public face of Australia’s landmark social media ban for children under 16 which came into force in December.

Now countries around the world are considering similar bans as cases of online addiction, self harm and abuse are reportedly on the rise.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations and Taiwan’s cyber ambassador Audrey Tang. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Katy Watson Producer: Dan Soekov, Clare Williamson, Farhana Haider Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Julie Inman Grant Credit: Reuters)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Katie Watson, the BBC's Australia correspondent, and this is the interview from the BBC World Service.
0:12.6	The best conversations coming out of the BBC, people shaping our world from all over the world.
0:19.0	If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention.
0:23.7	We have never seen a people so united.
0:27.3	Do not make that boat crossing. Do not make that journey.
0:30.0	Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not.
0:34.1	We're more popular than populism.
0:37.3	For this interview, I met Julie Inman-Grant,
0:40.2	Australia's East Safety Commissioner at her office overlooking Sydney Harbour. Brought up in
0:45.6	Seattle, North America, she's built her career in the technology sector, posted to Australia
0:51.2	just over 25 years ago, whilst working for Microsoft. She then went on to
0:56.1	work in public policy and safety, heard both Twitter and Adobe, before moving into government.
1:01.3	As E-Safety Commissioner since 2017, she's been a lightning rod for critics of Australia's
1:06.3	Online Safety Act, including Elon Musk, who's accused her of trying to censor the internet, a factor
1:12.6	which Julie believes led to a barrage of abuse, online hate and death threats. Now, as the public
1:18.7	face of the world's first ever social media ban for under 16s, she's facing up to some of the
1:24.1	world's most powerful tech companies and making sure that they abide by the new rules.
1:29.2	We're all going to have our challenges. We're coming up against technology companies that are
1:34.3	richer and more powerful than many nation states. And they're not going to be regulated without a fight.
1:41.9	That's why we refer to technological exceptionalism, because it is. If you
1:46.2	think about any other consumer-facing industry, whether it's food handling and safety standards or
1:52.1	consumer goods, when you import a car into the UK or to Australia, these car companies know that
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.