Students watch a news report about Australia's law banning under-16s from social media. Activities include vocabulary pre-teaching, comprehension questions, debate, discussion, and a persuasive writing task.

What is your opinion about a social media ban for under 16-year-olds?

Do you think a similar ban would work in other countries? Why/Why not?

What do you think about the following ways of checking how old a user is?

Is it the responsibility of the government to decide whether or not young people should use social media?

Apart from a ban, can you think of any other ways to make social media safer      for young people?

Should children under 16 be banned from social media? Why or why not? What are the potential benefits and harms?

Australia became the first country to ban children under 16 from major social media platforms effective December 10th. Platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook face hefty fines if they don't comply. 15-year-old Amber uses social media daily but admits she'd like to doom scroll less. Her mother Lindsay supports the ban but doubts enforcement is possible. The government cites online harms: cyber bullying, body image issues, grooming, and addictive algorithms. Platforms verify age through inference, selfies, or documents. Concerns include data privacy, stifling freedom of expression, and harms going underground. Experts welcome scrutiny but worry about government overreach. Other countries like Indonesia and Singapore are watching to see if the ban works.

How Effective Is Australia’s Under-16 Media Ban

how-effective-is-australias-under-16-media-ban

Let's do English ESL general vocabulary practice. Students watch a news report about Australia's law banning under-16s from social media. Activities include voc…