Australia social media ban: Why doesn’t it include gaming?

Wednesday afternoons have become routine for 15-year-old Sadmir Perviz. It’s a circuitous route from his home in Perth to Fiona Stanley Hospital, but he says it’s worth it to sit down and play a game of Dungeons and Dragons with people he may not know but has a lot in common with.

Sadmir and his fellow board gamers are just some of 300 patients at the Gaming Disorder Clinic, the only public institution of its kind in Australia, which helps patients kick their excessive online gaming habits.

The room where they met was a simple space in an unnamed hospital, but there were a bunch of board games on a chair in the corner. Jenga, Uno and Sushi Go are also popular choices in informal groups, attended by patients and clinicians alike.

It’s a little different for the 15-year-old, who until a few months ago enjoyed playing games online for 10 hours a day with friends.

“It feels completely different,” Sadmir said. “Instead of clicking buttons, you can roll dice. You can interact with people, so you actually know who’s there instead of just talking to random people.”

Dr. Daniela Vecchio, a psychiatrist who runs the clinic, said that while gaming itself is not bad, it can become a problem or even an addiction.

Gaming platforms and social media pose similar risks for children: spending too much time online may expose them to predators, harmful content or bullying.

So she wonders why gaming platforms aren’t included in Australia’s “world-first” social media ban for under-16s.

The ban, which took effect on Wednesday, aims to prevent teenagers from having accounts on 10 social media platforms including Instagram, Snapchat and X. Children can still access platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, but do not have accounts.

It’s odd for Vecchio to omit a gaming platform.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” she said.

“Gaming and social media are so intertwined that it’s hard to separate them.

“People who play games for too long also spend a lot of time on social media platforms where they can see other gamers or can livestream games, so it’s a way to connect.”

For example, Sadmir spends most of his time on the gaming platforms Steam and YouTube. Dr Vecchio singled out the Discord and Roblox platforms as being of particular concern, concerns echoed by many experts and parents the BBC spoke to in reporting on the ban and its impact.

Roblox and Discord have both been plagued by allegations that some children were exposed to explicit or harmful content through them, and have faced lawsuits in the United States related to child safety.

Roblox Introducing new age guarantee feature The social media ban comes just weeks before the checks are set to be rolled out to the rest of the world in January in Australia and two other countries. The company says these checks will “help us provide a positive, age-appropriate experience for all users on Roblox.”

Disharmonious Age checks have also been introduced A few features earlier this year and on Wednesday, the company said it was introducing a new “default teen” setting for all Australian users.

Former gaming clinic patient Kevin Koo, 35, wondered whether the social media ban would have affected his access to social media as a young man.

“I grew up in the Wild West of Internet use, so there were no limitations,” he said. “I basically have free reign on the internet. So I think for me the damage has been done.”

Mr. Gu, a former quantum finance intern interested in artificial intelligence, lost his job before the outbreak. He lives in Sydney with no family nearby and no regular job. He said he lost confidence and eventually became addicted to online games, likening his experience to drug abuse.

Dr Vecchio agrees with the comparison – if she had her way she would not only try to extend the social media ban to gaming, but also raise the age to 18.

Gaming addiction is now also recognized as an official diagnosis by the World Health Organization, and according to a 2022 study by Macquarie University, approximately 2.8% of Australian children are affected by gaming addiction. Vecchio believes the number of people at risk is much higher.

The Australian government says its ban is to protect children from harmful content, cyberbullying, online grooming and “predatory algorithms” – some or all of which can arguably be found on gaming platforms.

The Australian Federal Police and others have warned chat rooms on these sites are breeding grounds for radicalization and child exploitation.

But, as the Electronic Safety Commissioner said last month, the legislation enforcing the ban means platforms are not selected based on a “safety, hazard or risk-based assessment”.

Instead, platforms are selected based on three criteria: whether the sole or “substantial purpose” of the platform is to enable online social interaction between two or more users; whether users are allowed to interact with some or all other users; and whether users are allowed to post.

For example, games are an exception because their primary purpose is not social media style interaction.

Some experts say the law makes no sense.

“It’s incompetent, it’s reactionary,” said Marcus Carter, a professor of human-computer interaction at the University of Sydney.

“Social interaction is not a bad thing… There are a lot of probably valid concerns about these big tech platforms and what they’re offering kids and what they’re doing to kids, so we said we’re going to ban social media.

“I just hope the government can figure out a way to help instead of putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound,” he said.

Tama Leaver, professor of internet studies at Curtin University and principal researcher at the ARC Center of Excellence for Digital Children, also said bans on social media were too blunt a tool and that a more nuanced approach was needed, including targeting gaming platforms.

“The scope of gaming is so broad, with incredibly positive, nurturing, fun, creative and expressive spaces — something like Minecraft comes to mind, which has so many positive uses.” Platforms like Roblox, however, are at the other end of the spectrum, he said.

“Roblox is not a game. It’s a set of tools for other people to make games. And we know that some games that clearly feel like they’re designed for adults are being accessed by very young people.”

On Professor River’s desk at the university are three stuffed animals with ChatGPT built into them. The box says it is suitable for three or more people. He said this was too much.

“I do think there needs to be age-appropriate regulation,” he said, referring to young people going online. “I do think we are at a moment, not just in Australia but across the EU, where there is a huge need for regulation of all kinds.”

Take Mr. Gu as an example. His bad habits are not just games. This is an AI chatbot, another feature of online life that’s been subject to all sorts of scrutiny, from making things up to Allegedly encouraging children to commit suicide.

There is evidence that their purpose is to manipulate users into prolonging interactions, and their use has even caused New phenomenon called AI psychosispeople are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence chatbots, and then believing that what they imagined has become a reality.

Mr Koo also began Googling his mental health issues and relied on artificial intelligence to help confirm his diagnosis.

“You Google something that you think you already know, and then you check the box and say, oh, I’ve done my work for the day, my therapy work with ChatGPT,” he said. Mr Gu suffers from mental illness and after extensive treatment from professionals, he now takes a different approach.

“I might Google or ChatGPT something, and then I’ll check with my therapist in person,” he said. “I do think being able to read human emotions is completely different than talking to someone face to face.”

The government said it would keep the list of banned platforms under review and in late November added Twitch, a streaming platform where people often chat with viewers while playing video games.

Communications Minister Anika Wells also told the BBC last week Electronic safety specialist “definitely keeping an eye on Roblox.” And, she said, social media bans are “not a cure, but a treatment plan” and will “continue to evolve.”

The demand for platforms to do better is growing. There was also a long line of families waiting for help at a gaming disorder clinic, but Vecchio had to turn them away.

“(The legislation) excludes children from a platform to interact with many other people, some of whom may be the ones who harm them,” Vecchio said. “Children need to be protected, they need to be safeguarded.”