The summit comes amid mounting concern among experts and the community more broadly about the adverse impact of social media on children, including exposure to inappropriate, illegal and restricted content, cyber bullying and negative impacts on children’s mental health and development.
The NSW Government will host the first day of the summit at the ICC Sydney on Thursday 10 October, with the South Australian Government hosting the second day of the Summit in Adelaide on Friday 11 October.
The two-day summit will bring together a diverse group of experts, policymakers, academics, young people, and the wider community to explore key areas including the impacts of social media on children and young people, online safety, social media’s role in disinformation and misinformation, addressing online hate and extremism, and how social media is changing the way government delivers services.
The two-day summit will explore themes including:
- Formulating a public health response to social media harm minimisation
- Opportunities to address social media harms within educational settings
- Understanding the role of social media in identity, belonging and worldviews
- Unpacking links between extremism, misogyny and social media
- Reclaiming the digital town square - creating positive digital communities
The summit will help inform the design and delivery of a range of policies, programs and resources to address the challenges posed by social media.
Further details on keynote speakers, panellists and detailed event schedules will be released later in the year.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said:
“The parents I speak to and increasingly the evidence internationally, is that we're doing an enormous amount of damage to young people as a result of them being on social media.
“It seems to be this giant global unregulated experiment on children, and we have to change that.
“This really is an opportunity for the NSW and SA Governments to lead the country on this and hear from experts including internationally, as well as young people and the community to look at the impact of social media on our young kids.”
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said
“We know that social media is causing our children harm, and we’re determined to make a difference.
“At my request, former Chief Justice of the High Court Robert French is conducting a significant legal examination into banning children under the age of 14 from having social media accounts, and requiring parental consent for 14 and 15 year-olds.
“This summit will present a significant opportunity for parents to understand the scientific evidence underpinning our decision, and hear ideas on how to improve the wellbeing of our most important resource – our children.”
