7am How the internet is about to change for everyone
Nov 29, 2025
Samantha Floreani, a digital-rights advocate specializing in online safety, dives into Australia's controversial plan to ban teenagers from social media. She discusses enforcement challenges and the implications for privacy as platforms face hefty fines for underage accounts. Samantha raises concerns about the risks of age-verification methods, like biometric scans, and how this could endanger user data. She also highlights the global trend towards age-gating, stressing the need for public discourse on these emerging laws.
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YouTube Exemption Reversed After Research
- YouTube was initially exempted but later included after eSafety research showed children use it heavily.
- Samantha Floreani warns platform risks shift quickly, so exemptions can be unsafe policy choices.
Google Pushback And Creator Lobbying
- Google threatened legal action and rallied creators, even sending prominent figures to lobby.
- Samantha Floreani says tech giants argue YouTube is not a social media platform to avoid regulation.
Social Media Harms Are Complex
- Research on social media harms is mixed and context-dependent rather than uniformly positive or negative.
- Samantha Floreani argues policy should demand safer products without over-simplifying platforms as all good or bad.