AHISA SUBMISSION

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

Digital Platform Services Inquiry into Social Media Services

9 September 2022

AHISA’s submission records support for the submission made by Children & Media Australia, and raises several issues of ongoing concern to AHISA, including the difficulty for schools in keeping ahead of social media trends that present risk of harm to students (eg planking, choking) or which affect student behaviours (eg eating disorders, gambling, suicide), and the long-term impacts on young people of content delivered by social media apps and personalised via AI technology.

AHISA supports introduction of eSafety’s ‘safety by design’ approach but calls for continued government regulation if this approach is adopted. AHISA also suggests consideration of a recommendation made by the Australian Human Rights Commission in its 2021 Human Rights and Technology Final Report, that an AI Safety Commissioner be established as an independent statutory office.

Digital Platform Services Inquiry into Social Media Services – Full Submission