Treasurer Jim Chalmers is backing a crackdown on social media algorithms serving “rubbish” to children, as consent advocate Chanel Contos urges the government to better protect young boys from being sucked into the online manosphere.
Chalmers became the latest cabinet minister to weigh in on the persistent dangers posed by harmful social media content on Wednesday, after Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek last weekend sounded the alarm on the prevalence of sexual choking in online pornography.
“I find it really disturbing the rubbish that is fed to our kids, and to our population more broadly, with these algorithms,” Chalmers said on Wednesday. “It’s self-evident that social media, and particularly the way these social media algorithms work, are not doing us a lot of good.”
Algorithms push content into users’ social media feeds based on their online activity and personal data. Advocates like Contos are calling for default feeds to be algorithm-free.
Labor is strengthening its attack on big tech after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flagged online safety as a key platform for a third term, with cabinet considering mandating an algorithm opt-out function in its impending digital duty of care reforms.
Global momentum to regulate big tech is building after Australia’s teen social media ban, the European Union’s crackdown on algorithms, and Meta’s landmark $25 billion settlement in the United States that also extracted promises from the tech giant to limit its appeal to children.
But reform has proven difficult. Many Australian teens remain on social media, and in Europe, tech companies complied with an opt-out mandate, but disincentivised uptake by limiting other features, sparking a lawsuit in the Netherlands and an investigation by Ireland’s tech regulator.
Nationals leader Matt Canavan agreed online content was toxic, but blamed the “feminisation of our curriculum” for driving young boys towards it.
“They’re sick and tired of getting lectures about how bad men are at school, and so they go to other places,” Canavan told Nine’s Today.
“They’re sick and tired of the feminisation of our curriculum and the lack of direction and leadership that they’re given. Maybe we should look at getting more male teachers in,” he said, adding boys felt patronised, not cherished, at school.
Contos, who shot to national prominence in 2021 by documenting sexual violence in Sydney schools and successfully campaigning to mandate annual consent education in schools, said the consent curriculum was about promoting healthy intimacy.
“It is absolutely not an attack on men or boys at all. It’s to make their sex lives happier and healthier and their relationships better,” the Teach Us Consent chief executive said when asked about Canavan’s comments following a National Press Club address in Canberra on Wednesday.
“But of course, we also need to hold all of that while acknowledging that sexual violence is majority perpetrated by boys and men, and that shouldn’t be shameful for the individual, but it should mean that they’re willing to be part of a system to change that statistic.”
Greens communications spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young accused Canavan of stoking a culture war and criticised him for blaming female teachers for boys behaving badly.
“Senator Canavan has shown himself to be a fool when talking about these issues,” she told reporters in Canberra.
The Greens have backed Contos’ call for the government to go further on reining in social media by requiring algorithms to be opt-in.
Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson pointed to the Meta settlement as evidence more had to be done on algorithm-driven harm.
“Nothing should be off the table, including stronger parental controls, daily time limits, overnight restrictions and the option to permanently opt out of algorithm-driven recommendations,” she said in a statement.
In her speech, Contos said algorithms were preying on the insecurities of boys, funnelling them from lifestyle and dating advice into misogynistic content. She said research indicated that it took just 23 minutes for a new male social media profile to be served up misogynistic content, as teen boys overtake men as the most likely to perpetrate child sexual abuse.
“We owe it to our boys and young men to not hand-deliver them to an industry that takes their valid concerns, fuels the fire with unfounded grievance, and then extracts their strong emotions for profit,” she said.
Contos is calling for social media feeds to be limited to the pages deliberately followed by users and presented chronologically, with the option to switch on an algorithm to feed them curated suggested content.
Contos said social media companies’ business model was to push content that would keep eyes on screens longer, rather than what people would choose to see.
“Our screen time fills big tech’s pockets, and the more outraged we are, the more time we spend on their screens,” she said.
Contos conceded people would still choose to use the social media algorithm, but said it was about giving them a choice.
“As a society, we put parameters around other addictive substances like gambling, alcohol, and smoking, and people still do those things,” she said. “But we’re trying to make it safer.”
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Brittany Busch is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners
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