The government have the powers to stop social media

Australia is to ban social media usage for under 16's in less than 2 weeks.

2 people are challenging the law.

news.sky.com/.../teenagers-ask-judges-to-block-australias-ban-on-social-media-for-children-13475530

Governments around the world will be keeping an eye on this to see where it goes—interesting times.

I'm not sure why. Polling shows the public in Australia supports it. It's democracy in action. Mental health of youth has been affected by it, cyber bullying is common.

Young people have trouble differentiating fact and fiction. It is why so many pressure groups target and co-opt them. They are easier to manipulate.

The internet is awash with fake and manipulated information. Bots create content. And I suspect that very little on social media is actually true. They are gossip platforms that have broad reach and amplify the fringes.

Governments have the power to change the law. If there is a gap, they can just change the law to prevent the appeal succeeding. 

Whether it can be circumvented or will be effective is a different issue.

I'm not sure why. Polling shows the public in Australia supports it. It's democracy in action. Mental health of youth has been affected by it, cyber bullying is common.

Young people have trouble differentiating fact and fiction. It is why so many pressure groups target and co-opt them. They are easier to manipulate.

The internet is awash with fake and manipulated information. Bots create content. And I suspect that very little on social media is actually true. They are gossip platforms that have broad reach and amplify the fringes.

Governments have the power to change the law. If there is a gap, they can just change the law to prevent the appeal succeeding. 

Whether it can be circumvented or will be effective is a different issue.

Stuart333 said:

'm not sure why

Not sure why governments would be keeping an eye on this, not sure why the two young people are challenging it, or not sure why I would make that comment?

I don’t know all the ins and outs of social media and of the legal issues surrounding it. I have heard political commentators talking about this on programmes like “The Rest is Politics”, and I know that it is the job of most governments to make sure they are informed on major global shifts, which this potentially could be, remote though the possibility is. This sort of thing provides fodder for government speech writers and advisors to draw on and provide confidence in a political position or action, although they might or might not ensure this was discernible.