As Anthony Albanese heads to the US to discuss social media reform, he has shown a level of leadership not always expected from a smaller country.
Over the years, the United Nations has seen all kinds of world leaders.
Determined to rein in the power of social media giants harming the lives of children, the Australian prime minister believes only a concerted effort by countries around the world will be enough to force change.
Attending the UN leaders week in September last year, Albanese hosted a stylish event in a room overlooking the East River, talking up Australia’s world-leading moves to ban children under 16 from having social media accounts.
A year later, the ban is responsible for the closure of as many as 5m accounts in Australia.
As he flies to the US, where one of his first stops will be at Apple’s California headquarters for talks with its chair and former chief executive, Tim Cook, Albanese will be buoyed up by polling showing two-thirds of voters support opt out requirements for algorithms. A DemosAU poll this week found only 13% were opposed to the plan.
In the digital safety space, Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University in Perth, says Australia has shown a level of leadership not always expected from a smaller country.
Leaver points to the Netherlands, where a legal challenge found Meta was not compliant with the European Union’s Digital Services Act.
Similarly, last month, Meta agreed to a US$18bn settlement with state governments across America to resolve claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed children.