We're now at a point where tech is stronger than ever.

We're seeing the power consolidated in just a few tech companies.

And so as a result, you know, we need to rely on government to be able to regulate these things.

If we're doing things, if we're taking steps that we're saying, this is going to help and it doesn't,

the next time we push for something that maybe is more targeted, maybe is more proven,

who's to say whether the public is going to support something like that?

Hello and welcome to Take Won't Save Us made in partnership with The Nation magazine.

I'm your host, Paris Marks, and this week my guest is Cam Wilson.

Cam is an associate editor at Crikey.

And based on that name, maybe you can tell where Cam is from.

You've probably heard about this policy in Australia where the government wants to ban people under the age of 16 from using social media platforms, or at least some social media platforms.

It has kicked up a lot of debate, not just in Australia, but around the world as other countries,

or at least the media in other countries, start to talk about whether this is something that

should actually be considered in their jurisdictions. And so I wanted to talk to somebody in Australia who understands

these issues well and can not just run me through what is happening there, but can actually

dig into this as we do on Tech Won't Save Us, to understand what this policy is, what the

implications of it would be, and whether this is really the right approach that we should be taking, because, yes, we recognize that we should be regulating social media platforms, that they do not have all of our best interests at heart when they are making their decisions.

But does that mean we simply ban everyone under the age of 16 and leave everyone else to use

these platforms regardless of what the companies do with them or the decisions that they make about

how they should work?

I'm not so sure about that.

And neither is Cam, as you'll hear in our discussion.

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