The Australian government is considering allowing users to opt in or opt out of social media algorithms, and is looking at a recent UK ban on depictions of strangulation and suffocation in pornography.
The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, said social media was “playing a huge role” in the increase in sexual violence among teenagers and choking, and confirmed the options were being considered as the government develops its second action plan to end family and domestic violence against women and children.
It follows the death of a 16-year-old girl in Sydney after a suspected sexual strangulation act. Guardian Australia reported on Thursday that a source informed about the case said the teenager was believed to have become unconscious as a result of asphyxiation during sexual intercourse, often referred to as “choking”. No arrests have been made.
Plibersek told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday that social media algorithms are deliberately feeding boys and men violent content and normalising strangulation during sex.
“If you set up a social media account as a young boy in Australia today, it takes an average of 23 minutes for you to be fed misogynistic, violent misogynistic content online. That is a deliberate decision of the social media companies that is wrecking our young boys, giving them all of the wrong ideas about what healthy relationships look like,” Plibersek said.
“It is no coincidence that 60% of young people now report that they’ve experienced strangulation during a sexual encounter … It is pervasive and widespread and deadly, and it’s being fed to our young people and normalised.”
Chanel Contos’s Teach Us Consent has campaigned for algorithms to be opt-in only on social media.
Plibersek said the government was working with the group and considering how to potentially design an opt-in or opt-out system for algorithms.
“We’re absolutely up for work on algorithms. Opting in to those recommender algorithms that are causing so much harm, opting in or opting out,” she said.
“We’re also, of course, looking very closely at the recent Meta case in the US [and] the moves that the UK government have introduced to prevent the depiction of strangulation and suffocation in pornography. These are all really important considerations as we develop our next action plan on family domestic and sexual violence, so that work’s going on right now.”
The government legislated a ban on social media for under-16s which took effect in December, and has also introduced age-verification for pornography. But Plibersek has previously conceded children were easily able to dodge the new rules.
Labor will also soon begin consultation on a digital duty of care bill that will put the onus on tech companies, including AI companies, to make online spaces safer for all users.
Plibersek said the digital duty of care legislation, as well as a second round of privacy reforms, could also help tackle camera-equipped smartglasses, which she said she had serious concerns about.
“Tech companies should know that their products are safe and make them safe before they release them on to an unsuspecting public. I know the Attorney-General has asked the privacy commissioner to look specifically at these glasses,” Plibersek said.
“We’ve got a second tranche of privacy legislation coming up soon as well … things like this that can be used to furtively film, including during sexual encounters, for that filming then to be made public or used against someone who is being filmed as a way of blackmailing them, I am very concerned about the potential uses of these glasses.”
