The Animal Farm
February 2025
The next 4 years is going to be very 'interesting' from an international Cyber Safety perspective.
Over the past decade, there has been a very significant rise in pressure from international organisations for the regulation of Social Media and the ethical design of those environments. As the vast majority of the most popular SM apps are US based, it is only natural it is American Big Tech companies which are facing the majority of scrutiny.
Australia's very own eSafety Commissioner and the European Commission have become world leaders in pressuring Big Tech towards the safety by design principal of their networks. That pressure has included billions of dollars worth of fines over the past decade for breaches of international law or the non-removal of harmful content.
In recent media appearances Mark Zuckerberg made it very clear his intentions to work with the US Government to address this international pressure. It is very likely a Trump lead government will push against international governments which are pressuring US based companies to abide by their local legislation.
Trump has made clear statements in support of Zuckerbergs desire to negate international pressure on US companies, suggesting the EU has no right to dictate freedom of expression in the United States. This is somewhat ironic, given Trumps recent threat to ban TikTok if it did not concede to US ownership. The US seems very defensive of international organisations dictating terms to them, yet they are more than happy to place demands on those outside of its own borders. The hypocrisy of this is not lost on me!
Australia recently introduced legislation which would seek to ban Australian children under the age of 16 from Social Media networks. This legislation is expected to rely heavily on cooperation from US Social Media giants such as Meta, Snapchat and X.
A key component of the Australian U16 SM Ban (Section 4), is the legal requirement on the provider of a SM platform to take reasonable steps to prevent children in Australia under the age of 16 from having accounts. This is set to be significantly hindered with Trump having taken the seat in the Oval Office.
The stubborn nature of Big Tech has remained a constant hurdle for legislators and international bodies such as our eSafety Commission. Even politicians within the US who support the global drive for SM regulation are facing staunch opposition, being beaten down by the 'free speech' argument.
This defiance by Big Tech in marriage with the stubborn nature of President Trump is set to ensure the collective army of Cyber Safety advocates and legislators outside of the US pushing for a much needed increase in safety, will be encountering a massive concrete wall.
Leave Us Alone Order
The announcement made by Mark Zuckerberg in January that he would be scaling back on moderation and content filtering, sent shock waves across the globe. His stance to push against those who seek to address the lack of safety and regulation on SM networks was condemned internationally.
As such, it is very clear that at a time when the vast majority of the planet has reached the point where the damage being caused by Social Media is too severe to ignore any longer, Big Tech have decided to dig in their heels.
Though this has been happening for years, their defiance has now been bolstered by a President who is just as morally corrupt as those who run SM environments.
With their personal bank accounts rising healthily, we are soon to hear from US Senators who have jumped into bed with Big Tech. They will not admit their conflict of interest, but instead hide behind their support of the First Amendment. Their staunch desire to keep the promise of their forefathers, will be the veil they wear to mask their corruption.
In the meantime, millions of children worldwide will continue to suffer because Big Tech are too cowardly to act on the harms they are enabling.
Education is now more important than ever before. At a time when I honestly believed I was at the crest of the hill I have been battling to climb for sixteen years, I have been kicked back down to the bottom again! But hey, I have been here before!
I look forward to continuing to work side by side with my amazing collaborators in this space. More than ever before, it is time for us to come together to remain a voice for those who cannot speak.