Social Media, Big Tech, and Big Tobacco: Is There a Connection?
Written by John Pane, EFA Chair. For years, concerns about children, smartphones, and social media have occupied a grey zone — intuitively alarming, politically contentious, and legally elusive. Fast forward to 2025 and Australia passes the social media ban that we had to have. Problem solved, right? Well, the government seems to think so. But […]
Regulate the system, not the child
This post was written by EFA Vice Chair Julian Watchorn. The lessons emerging from AI governance debates are directly relevant to online safety, where reliance on voluntary compliance and identity-based controls threatens privacy and rights while leaving harmful platform design largely unregulated. Much of the current debate about children’s online safety has narrowed to age […]
EFA Gives Evidence at Hearing on Social Media Ban and Internet Search Engine Code
Internet Search Engine Services Online Safety Code and Social Media Minimum Age Rules On Monday, 13 October 2025, John Pane, EFA Chair appeared before Senate Estimates and gave evidence in respect of the fundamentally flawed “social media ban” for under 16 year olds and the proposed Internet Search Engine Code. EFA strongly believes both codes […]
The U.S. Reacts: Australia’s Attempt to Keep Kids off Social Media
We’ve made it onto the global stage—but not for reasons we’re proud of. When news broke of Australia’s social media ban, countries around the world picked up on a pattern. For one, as noted in Recorded Future News’ award-winning Click Here podcast, Australia has not only introduced one of the strictest digital laws—a social media […]
EFA’s submission to rushed inquiry into the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024
With a complete disregard for democratic processes, the Government has pushed ahead with their Social Media age verification legislation giving the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications 5 working days to undertake inquiry and report back their findings. EFA received the email inviting submissions to the inquiry at 13:45 on Thursday 21st November […]