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Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk ZEDB. Follow

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Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Messa's regional director of Policy, Mia Garlic told MPs during

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Speaker 2: a sleek committee that Instagram is not inherently addictive. It's

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Speaker 2: on the back of national MP Katherine Weed's members build

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Speaker 2: a band social Media for under sixteens, and Katherine Weed

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Speaker 2: joins us now, very good afternoon to you.

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Speaker 3: Good afternoon.

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Speaker 4: Now, do you think that there are things intentionally used

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Speaker 4: on the meta platform to get people addicted?

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Speaker 3: There's no doubt that social media is addictive and the

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Speaker 3: constant scrolling, you know, studies show it does release dopening,

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Speaker 3: a feel good feeling through the likes, the comments, and

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Speaker 3: the constant new content that becomes addictive to wanting to scroll,

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Speaker 3: wanting to see more, wanting to see more lights, the comments.

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Speaker 3: And I think from kids point of view, it's very

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Speaker 3: difficult to control that. It's hard enough for adults to control,

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Speaker 3: let alone children. And that's why I think that we

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Speaker 3: need to look seriously at protecting our children and regulating

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Speaker 3: social media for under sixteen year old because of course

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Speaker 3: that addiction leads to other places. It leads to cyber bullying.

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Speaker 3: It leads to anxiety, to depression, and to some of

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Speaker 3: our kids going into deep dark places on social media.

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Speaker 3: So absolutely it is addictive and dangerous, so.

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Speaker 4: Addictive, But do you believe it's intentionally addictive?

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Speaker 3: I think that the algorithms and the way in which

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Speaker 3: content is served up is concerning, particularly for our young

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Speaker 3: children who will have content said at them, and for

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Speaker 3: some young children they don't understand the content itself and

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Speaker 3: how harming that potentially could be.

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Speaker 4: So specifically, what sort of damage do you think social

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Speaker 4: media is doing well?

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Speaker 3: I think that you know, it's easy for a ten

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Speaker 3: year old to set up an account and to pose

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Speaker 3: as sixteen year old. It's equally easy for a forty

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Speaker 3: eight year old man to pose as a twelve year

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Speaker 3: old girl. And you know that's concerning because you know,

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Speaker 3: we are seeing the harms and we're seeing the cases

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Speaker 3: come through, you know, not just in that respect in

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Speaker 3: terms of you know, exploitation and exploitation, but also the

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Speaker 3: harms that we're seeing with mental health, in terms of anxiety, depression,

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Speaker 3: and these are concerning for our young people. And that's

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Speaker 3: why I brought this bill fort and I believe that

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Speaker 3: we need to move and do more as governments around

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Speaker 3: the world to protect our young children from the online harm.

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Speaker 3: And you can see governments around the world moving to

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Speaker 3: protect our kids.

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Speaker 2: So clearly, Catherine, you've put forward this bill and it

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Speaker 2: is a tangible thing that you're pushing forward to ban

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Speaker 2: these platforms for under sixteen. But do you think the

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Speaker 2: platforms that have a wider responsibility if there are addictive

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Speaker 2: harms or elements of those platforms that are damaging people's

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Speaker 2: mental health that are causing those addictive features, do you

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Speaker 2: think they have a responsibility to do something about that.

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Speaker 3: I think they absolutely have responsibility, and my bill puts

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Speaker 3: the onus on the social media companies to take more

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Speaker 3: responsibility in terms of age verification and ensuring that the

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Speaker 3: people that are on the platforms are the age that

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Speaker 3: they say they are. And at the moment, the social

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Speaker 3: media platforms aren't doing enough in this space, and I

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Speaker 3: think they need to do more. They need to take

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Speaker 3: on a social responsibility as well.

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Speaker 4: What does that mean for free speech? Single person has

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Speaker 4: to apply an ID to well, let's face facts, an

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Speaker 4: American social media company or corporation and identifying themselves online.

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Speaker 4: What does that do for free speech in our democracy.

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Speaker 3: I think there's always platforms that people can express themselves.

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Speaker 3: But I think this is really about protecting our children

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Speaker 3: and our most vulnerable from the harms of social media

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Speaker 3: and the platforms, not just from the content that's been

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Speaker 3: set up to them, but the predators that we see

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Speaker 3: that are approaching our young girls and young children. And

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Speaker 3: so at the moment, there's not a lot of restriction

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Speaker 3: in the online world. You know, we have restrictions in

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Speaker 3: the physical world when it comes to alcohols, aping, smoking,

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Speaker 3: and driving, but we had very few restrictions in the

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Speaker 3: online world. And there are hardly any safety rails and

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Speaker 3: seat belts to protect our kids online. So you know,

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Speaker 3: that's why I'm making a stand and I'm championing a

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Speaker 3: bill which will regulate social media for under sixteen year olds.

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Speaker 4: But you do understand what what's been saying by a

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Speaker 4: lot of people that often restrictions are coming on the

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Speaker 4: back of safety concerns and then they take rights from

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Speaker 4: people and well meaning, well meaning for the safety of

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Speaker 4: our children. But then you know, it can have consequences

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Speaker 4: on free speech. So you know, how are you balancing

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Speaker 4: that in your mind?

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Speaker 3: You know, look, I'm hearing from more and more concerned

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Speaker 3: parents every day, school principles, teachers, medical professionals in our

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Speaker 3: community that are concerned about the online harms children are

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Speaker 3: facing every day with the deep dark dangers of social media.

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Speaker 3: And you know, we hear it every day from cyberbillion,

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Speaker 3: cases of sextortion, mounting instances of abuse, mental health issues,

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Speaker 3: eating disorders, social media addiction, and you know, inappropriate content

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Speaker 3: has been fed to our innocent children every day, every hour,

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Speaker 3: every minute, every second. A concerned It's a concern for

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Speaker 3: many people in our community, and I think as governments,

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Speaker 3: we need to do more to protect our kids online.

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Speaker 4: Now an age band, it has been pointed out that

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Speaker 4: could be pretty hard to enforce and may actually push

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Speaker 4: teens to unsupervised platforms and using VPNs because the kids'

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Speaker 4: kids are incredibly smart and more savvy than we ever

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Speaker 4: were at their age. I mean, are you worried about that?

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Speaker 4: So you're banned the slightly regulated platforms and the and

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Speaker 4: the ones that are out in the light, and then

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Speaker 4: the kids we'll just head off to the ones that

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Speaker 4: operate in the dark, your fore chains and stars.

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Speaker 3: I think operationally, you know, that's what we are looking

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Speaker 3: at looking at how we could implement and enforce a

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Speaker 3: ban or some kind of regulation or restriction, and you know,

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Speaker 3: ultimately it's not going to be perfect. You know, we

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Speaker 3: still see kids out there drinking, still see kids out

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Speaker 3: there vaping. You know, you can't stop everyone. But this

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Speaker 3: is about creating a consistent message that the government says

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Speaker 3: it's not okay. So it's not okay. And if we

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Speaker 3: look at the cell phone band that we've already brought

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Speaker 3: in in schools, it's been really successful. You know, I've

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Speaker 3: got a lot of principles and teachers now saying to me, hey,

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Speaker 3: the kids are talking to each other, they are engaging,

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Speaker 3: they're focusing on their learning, and so this is a

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Speaker 3: natural progression from that where we get our kids back

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Speaker 3: to engaging and talking with one another rather than on

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Speaker 3: the screen.

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Speaker 2: Catherine, really appreciate you joining us on the show this afternoon.

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Speaker 2: All the best with the rest of the Select Committee

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Speaker 2: process and where the bill goes from here or the

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Speaker 2: very best.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 2: That is National mp A Katherine Webb behind the Members

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Speaker 2: Bill to ban social media for under sixteenes.

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