ill just say it. half my family is in manila. the group chat with my titas and cousins is not "social media harm" its how i have a family at all. i was 14 when my lola got sick and that chat was where i found out, grieved, everything. ban that until 16 and you havent protected me from anything. you cut the line.

as a father of two teenagers i see both sides of this every single day, my son uses whatsapp to talk to his grandmother in guadalajara and that is beautiful and i would never want a law to touch it, but that is not what my daughter is doing at 1am, she is watching strangers videos served by a machine that knows her better than i do, and when i read the australian law it actually exempts messaging apps which nobody in this thread has mentioned, so the family argument is important but i think it is aimed at the wrong target, the law is not about talking to your lola it is about the feed, and if the price of my daughter sleeping is that some apps check ages then honestly as a parent i will pay it